CAIRO — Egypt ordered an investigation into an accident, on Dec. 15, in which a Kuwaiti container ship and a fishing vessel collided in the Red Sea in an incident that killed 18 Egyptians.

A statement from the prosecutor’s office said initial enquiries showed the fishing boat capsized after it and the Kuwaiti ship hit each other after the latter had  passed through the Suez Canal.

The collision is at least the second such recent incident involving vessels passing through the Suez Canal. In September, two container ships collided at the northern end of the canal, knocking containers into the sea and delaying traffic in both directions.

The captain and first officer of a Kuwaiti container ship were detained after the accident.

The Suez Canal is one of the world’s most strategic waterways, facilitating maritime trade between Europe and Asia.

It provides about $5 billion in annual revenue for Egypt, which is currently digging an extension to allow larger ships to pass through the channel at the same time.

The prosecutor did not name the ship or the company operating it, but judicial sources said it was Kuwaiti-owned and Panamanian-flagged. It was sailing from Italy to Saudi Arabia, the sources said.