A Torm product tanker was briefly aground in the Suez Canal earlier this week, it has emerged.

The 73,000-dwt LR1 Torm Sara (built 2003) got stuck in the Great Bitter Lake at 1310 UTC on 11 April, Maritime Bulletin reported.

By 1630, the Singapore vessel was still aground with three tugs working to free it.

But the LR1 was refloated at around 1700 hours and resumed its transit through the Egyptian waterway.

The Torm Sara was heading southbound, en route from Gibraltar to Dhamra in India.

The ship left the canal at 2040 hours and then anchored at Suez later that night.

The last AIS update 22 hours ago showed the tanker still at anchor there on Thursday morning.

A spokesman for Torm confirmed the incident and said the ship had been aground for about two hours.

There has been no information on any damage to the vessel.

The Torm Sara has a clean port state control detention record.

The incident came days after a collision between two Greek product tankers in the lake.

The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said in a statement that the minor incident took place as the ships were waiting in the anchorage area.

The 74,000-dwt LR1 Aligote (built 2010) was preparing to leave while the 110,000-dwt LR2 Lyric Magnolia (built 2016) was still anchored, SCA chairman Osama Rabie said.

An initial inspection report showed no significant damage nor any spills in the vicinity of the tankers, Rabie added.