Thousands of people were stranded for hours at the Bahrain and UAE borders with Saudi Arabia yesterday.

A three-hour delay on the Bahrain side of the King Fahad Causeway was blamed on a computer glitch on the Saudi side, but it was not clear if this also caused the jams at the UAE crossing at the Ghuweifat checkpoint.

Breakdown

The breakdown halted traffic, including commuters and haulage vehicles on the Bahrain side from 5.45am to 9.50am, causing huge rush-hour tailbacks, said an Interior Ministry source.

One commuter from Bahrain, who would not be named, said the chaos was made worse by frustrated drivers trying to turn round.

Wire agencies reported a 15km queue of around 5,000 trucks at the UAE crossing, which was blamed by sources on 'slow clearing' by Saudi Customs officials.

On average, 1,800 trucks a day cross the border between the two countries, the UAE said.-TradeArabia News Service