The guy driving the Suez Canal excavator didn’t like becoming a meme star, but said the attention made him work harder

The guy driving the Suez Canal excavator didn’t like becoming a meme star, but said the attention made him work harder

The man driving the excavator on the banks of the Suez Canal that became an internet sensation for its struggle to shift the Ever Given cargo ship did not much enjoy the memes about him.

But in an interview with Insider, he said that the attention helped spur him to work harder in the six-day struggle to shift the huge container ship.

As soon as the massive container ship became lodged in the canal on March 23, images from the scene captivated people worldwide. A key route in world trade had been blocked, at a cost of many millions of dollars per hour.

The most striking image from the rescue operation featured 28-year-old Abdullah Abdel-Gawad and his excavator, and struck a chord for the contrast between one man and his machine against a skyscraper-sized ship.

One of the last people to become aware of the avalanche of memes that followed was Abdel-Gawad himself.

Insider spoke to Abdel-Gawad about his experience in the six days he worked almost constantly to help free the ship. 

He said that from inside his excavator, he did not notice a photographer taking the now-famous photograph, distributed by the Suez Canal Authority on March 25.

"I really wasn't paying attention to any of