UN-led efforts to prevent a catastrophic oil spill in the Red Sea took a major step forward on Thursday with the announcement of a deal to purchase a vessel that will remove more than a million barrels of oil from a decaying supertanker that has threatened the region for years.
The salvage of the ageing supertanker FSO Safer, off the Yemeni coast, can now begin, the UN said on Wednesday, after it announced that more than $75 million has been pledged to carry out the vital operation.
The UN Security Council has urged warring parties in Yemen to urgently intensify negotiations towards expanding their historic truce, according to a statement issued on Monday.
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Donors on Wednesday pledged $33 million towards a UN-coordinated plan to prevent an ageing oil tanker moored off the west Coast of Yemen from sparking a potential ecological and humanitarian disaster.
Critical funding and timely action are needed to prevent a decaying tanker anchored close to Yemen’s coastline from sparking a major oil spill, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the country said on Friday in New York.
There has been no further investigation into the state of the FSO Safer, a stricken tanker anchored just 4.8 nautical miles off the Yemen coast, meaning the risk of a massive oil leak continues to grow with each passing day, a senior UN official told the Security Council on Thursday.
The UN chief is “deeply concerned” about the condition of the FSO Safer oil tanker, moored off the western coast of Yemen, his spokesperson said on Friday.