U.N: UN Secretary-Gen. Antonio Guterres is “deeply concerned” regarding the condition of an oil tanker moored off the western coast of Yemen, his own spokesman has stated.
Constructed-in 1974, the FSO Safer oil tanker allegedly sprang a leak in 2019, after being utilized as a storage vessel from the late 1980s, & has been abandoned after its engine room flooded with seawater, threatening to destabilise the vessel & discharge its cargo.
The aging ship has had almost no maintenance from the civil conflict in Yemen intensified in 2015 & risks causing a main oil spill, explosion (or) fire.
that would’ve catastrophic environmental & humanitarian implications for Yemen & the area.
Guterres stated the potential oil slick within the Red Sea wouldn’t only severely harm Red Sea ecosystems relied on by 30 mln citizens around the area, however would also enforce the.
Hudaydah port to close for mos furthermore exacerbating Yemen’s already serious economic crises & cut off millions of citizens from accessibility to meal & different vital commodities.
The Secretary-Gen. encourages the removal of any obstacles to the measures required to mitigate the dangers posed by this Safer tanker without delay, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric stated on Fri..
The UN chief specifically named for granting independent technical experts unconditional accessibility to the tanker to assess its condition & carry out any possible initial repairs, he stated.
The evaluation going to give critical scientific proof for the next steps to be taken to avert catastrophe, Dujarric stated.
Intl. environmental crowd Greenpeace has written a letter to the Secretary-Gen., calling on the UN to make the status its top priority & utilize its complete diplomatic & technical.
capability to carry out an urgent on-board technical evaluation to determine what repairs are required to make the vessel at the least temporarily safe.
Past month, the UN Environment Program (UNEP) chief, Inger Andersen, informed the Security Council that “the clock has been ticking for getting a UN tandem of experts aboard the Safer, before it spills its cargo of 1.148 mln barrels of light crude oil into the Red Sea, triggering what would likely afterwards be an environmental, economic & humanitarian catastrophe”.