West German ships -- Munsterland and Nordwind -- were the first ships trapped in the Suez Canal since the 1967 war to leave the Great Bitter Lake on Wednesday (May 7) after the Egyptians agreed on their release.
GV Newsmen gather on bank of Suez
SV War debris (3 shots)
GV West German Vessel Munisterland leaves lake
SV Sirens blast from ship
SV Nordwind, another West German vessel, with crew on deck sails out of Bitter Lake
GV West German ships passing through lake
Initials BJB/0330 BJB/0345
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Background: West German ships -- Munsterland and Nordwind -- were the first ships trapped in the Suez Canal since the 1967 war to leave the Great Bitter Lake on Wednesday (May 7) after the Egyptians agreed on their release.
Egyptian soldiers cheered and tugboats sounded their sirens as they sailed down the waterway.
The removal of the 14 ships imprisoned in the waterway began at dawn -- almost the final operation in preparation for the planned reopening of the cancel on June 5.
It is expected that the operation will be completed by May 24 -- less than two weeks before the reopening.
Originally, 15 foreign tankers and freighters were stranded in the canal but one ship later sank.
Of the 14 now left, four are from Britain, two each from Sweden, Poland and West Germany, with one each from the United States, France, Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia. Insurance claims on the ships and their cargoes were mostly settled long ago, and several of the ships have changed ownership more than once. Throughout their confinement in the lake, they have been manned by skeleton crews of three to four seamen.