- The Red Sea oil spill that may result in a $20 billion clean-up.
- There was an emergency operation led by the United Nations.
- It has raised the required $75 million.
The Red Sea oil spill that may result in a $20 billion clean-up cost has been avoided thanks to an emergency operation led by the United Nations, which has declared that it has raised the required $75 million.
Since Yemen’s civil war broke out in 2014, the dilapidated FSO Safer, which is 45 years old and has been abandoned off the rebel-held port of Hodeidah, has not received maintenance.
The ship, which has four times the quantity of oil spilled in the Exxon Valdez catastrophe in 1989, is a ticking environmental time bomb that requires quick action, United Nations officials warned last month.
According to David Gressly, the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in Yemen and head of the international organization’s work on the Safer, “We are ready to announce we have now commitments and commitment sufficient to launch the FSO Safer salvage operation.”
It’s a significant accomplishment, he said, noting that donor promises have already surpassed $77 million.
The FSO Safer would be stabilized during the first stage of the salvage operation, and the oil would be transferred to another vessel. Another $38 million is expected to be spent on a second phase that involves long-term storage of the cargo.
Gressly added of the price, “We believe that we could meet that in a timely manner.
Because seawater just entered the abandoned tanker’s engine compartment and damaged pipes, the ship is in grave danger of sinking.
Parts of the truck are covered with rust, and the inert gas that keeps flammable gases from collecting in the tanks has poured out. According to experts, maintenance is no longer viable because the ship has sustained irreparable damage.
A large release or explosion could disrupt international commercial shipping through the crucial Bab al-Mandeb Strait and the Suez Canal, causing irreparable harm to the world economy, the UN, the US and other governments, as well as Greenpeace and other international organizations, have long warned.
A civil war
When the Houthis, who are linked with Iran, took control of Sanaa in 2014, Yemen’s then-President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi was eventually forced to evacuate Yemen for Saudi Arabia.
By March 2015, a Saudi-led coalition with US support has militarily entered Yemen to battle the Houthis.
By the end of 2021, the violence had reportedly killed 377,000 people, both directly and indirectly through sickness and starvation.
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