Concern grows over the condition of the SAFER FSO tanker, which has been stranded in the Yemeni port of Ras Isa since 2015. This week, the UN environmental chief said the ship could release four times more oil than the Exxon spill. Valdez in 1989. Alaska if no action was taken.
Seawater flooded the engine room of the old tanker in late May and threatens to destabilize the ship, according to the UN. Andersen said “no effort should be spared” to carry out a “technical assessment and initial light repairs” on the ship.
But he added that in the long term, the best option is to unload the oil from the ship, which would then be towed to a safe place for inspection and dismantling.
Andersen said neither Yemen nor its war-torn neighbors had the capacity to handle the consequences of such a large spill that it would destroy the biodiversity of the Red Sea and could affect the livelihoods of the 28 million people who depend on the entrance.
Green light
Yemen has been embroiled in a year-long civil war that has pitted Iranian-backed Houthi rebels against a coalition backed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
But questions remain as to whether the Houthis will allow the mission to go ahead, UN chief humanitarian affairs officer Mark Lowcock told the Security Council on Wednesday.
United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who described the ship as a “time bomb”, asked Houthis on Wednesday to grant the UN access to the ship.
The old tanker had been converted to a floating storage platform before the war in Yemen began.
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