Red Sea story 'may have happened'

One of the most dramatic episodes in the Old Testament, the parting of the Red Sea, may actually have happened.

A new computer modelling study suggests a powerful wind could have divided the waters just as depicted in the biblical story that has mystified scholars and inspired Hollywood epics.

The likely location of the "miracle" was not the Red Sea, but a nearby spot in the Nile Delta.

Scientists found that an east wind of 63mph blowing for 12 hours would have driven the shallow waters back, both into the lake and the river channel.

For four hours, this would have created a land bridge two miles long and three miles wide.

Lead researcher Carl Drews, from the National Centre for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, said: "The simulations match fairly closely with the account in Exodus. This study shows that the description of the waters parting indeed has a basis in physical laws."