Tanker Yemen: Recovery from “floating time bomb” begins US sees blame for Kosovo escalation – Germany and France want to mediate

The head of the UN development organization UNDP, Achim Steiner, spoke of a “big step” to pump the oil from the tanker “Safer”. “The technical experts set foot on the ‘Safer’ for the first time this morning,” Steiner told the German news agency on Wednesday (local time) in New York. In the next seven to 10 days, a second United Nations-procured ship, the “Nautica”, is to go to the tanker so that the oil can be pumped out.

The case in detail:

The UN operation off the coast of the civil war country of Yemen must prevent the 1.1 million barrels of oil from escaping uncontrollably and lead to an oil spill with serious consequences. The “Safer” has been lying in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen for years and is in danger of falling apart. That would lead to a gigantic oil spill with devastating ecological and economic consequences.

“It could be one of the greatest environmental disasters of all time,” Steiner said. Biodiversity, fisheries and tourism throughout the region would be threatened and one of the world’s most important shipping lanes could be seriously disrupted. An initial inspection confirmed the disastrous condition of the rusty ship, which is more than 45 years old, Steiner said.

The “Safer” is a floating oil storage facility located about nine kilometers off the coast of Yemen. The 350-meter ship has not had any maintenance since 2015 due to the civil war in Yemen. According to Steiner, there is not only a risk of rupture, but also an explosion due to gases that have accumulated in the tank.

Last year, the UN and the Netherlands collected money for the operation at a donor conference. The total cost of the project was estimated at approximately $144 million. (sda/dpa)