- Gareth Evans
- BBC
The tanker has been deserted since 2015
Nations announced the purchase of a huge ship to prevent an environmental disaster on the Yemeni coast.
For years, an abandoned tanker carrying a million barrels of oil has been sitting in the Red Sea.
There are fears that the tanker will disintegrate or explode, leading to one of the largest oil spill accidents in history.
However, the United Nations said Thursday that it had bought a huge tanker heading to Yemen to load the amount of oil in the abandoned ship.
Achim Steiner of the United Nations Development Program said, “The purchase of the ship is the beginning of the practical phase in the plan to unload the oil and avoid the risks of an environmental and humanitarian catastrophe,” adding that it is a major achievement.
A program statement said the ship is undergoing routine maintenance in China and will arrive at the project site in early May.
The statement added that the oil spill “will kill the lives of the 200,000 families of fishermen on the coast of the Red Sea, and millions will be affected by air pollution.”
The United Nations believes that an oil spill could cost $20 billion to clean up.
Nations have been looking for a solution to the problem for years and have also called for fundraising. The operation is expected to cost $129 million. The organization also received promises of $20 million.
The Safer tanker was neglected in the port of Hodeidah after the war broke out in Yemen in 2015, and it has not undergone any maintenance since then.
The tanker was built in 1976 and then converted into a floating oil tank. It is now moored in the Houthi-controlled port of Ras Issa.
The ship, 376 meters long, can carry 1.14 million barrels of crude oil.
The condition of the tanker has deteriorated due to the cessation of maintenance work since 2015, when the Houthis took control of large areas of Yemen, and the Saudi-led coalition intervened to support the government against the rebels.
The armed conflict is believed to have killed 150,000 people and left 23 million in need of humanitarian assistance.
“We have to make it clear that the process involves risks, and things could go off track,” Steiner told a news conference. It may stop if the required funding is not available.
