The United Nations has declared that a major breakthrough has been achieved in the cleanup efforts of a deteriorating tanker stranded off the coast of Yemen. Despite significant progress, further work is required to address the issue of contaminated sediment. (File photo by Yahya Arhab/EPA-EFE)
Aug. 11 (UPI) — On Friday, the challenging task of offloading the oil from a decaying crude oil tanker, named FSO Safer, which has been moored off the coast of Yemen for 47 years, was completed successfully, earning praise from domestic and international observers.
At the end of July, the United Nations had announced the initiation of efforts to transfer the estimated 1 million barrels of oil trapped on the supertanker. Due to its deteriorating condition, the vessel, described as a “ticking time bomb” by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, posed a major risk of a potential oil spill in the Red Sea.
“The potential oil spill from Safer could have been four times larger than the disastrous Exxon Valdez incident,” remarked U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in an official statement. “Cleaning up such a spill would have entailed costs amounting to tens of billions of dollars and would have inflicted severe environmental, economic, and humanitarian consequences on the region.”
The country of Yemen, already grappling with widespread poverty and enduring years of civil conflict, has also found itself embroiled in a proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
The United Nations disclosed that the oil was successfully transferred to the vessel MOST Yemen, with the support of marine salvage company SMIT. SMIT was specifically contracted by the U.N. Development Program for this intricate operation.
However, the work is not yet complete. The United Nations has reported that less than 2% of the original cargo remains mixed with sediment on the sea floor, which will require additional cleaning operations to address.
UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner expressed, “Today marks a moment of great pride for the countless individuals within the U.N. system, as well as our generous donors and dedicated partners, who have worked tirelessly for months and years to prevent a disaster in a country already vulnerable due to prolonged conflict. While there is still work to be done, we can confidently state that the immediate threat of a spill has been successfully averted.”
According to the United Nations, the recovery of fish stocks from a potential oil spill would take an estimated 25 years, with the total cost of cleaning up such a spill projected to reach $20 billion.
Denial of responsibility! VigourTimes is an automatic aggregator of Global media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, and all materials to their authors. For any complaint, please reach us at – [email protected]. We will take necessary action within 24 hours.
