Yemen: UN starts high stakes operation to prevent catastrophic oil spill from decaying tanker
A complex maritime salvage effort started on Tuesday morning in the Red Sea off the coast of war-torn Yemen to transfer one million barrels of oil from a decaying tanker to a replacement vessel.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the situation as possibly “the world’s largest ticking time-bomb”, as the United Nations-led mission began.
“(It is) definitely a challenging operation, both because it was technically complex, and because of the location of the vessel Safer, and obviously the political context,” said Sarah Bel, spokesperson for the UN Development Programme (UNDP), in Geneva.
“This is an all-hands-on-deck mission and the culmination of nearly two years of political groundwork, fundraising and project development" said the UN chief.
The Safer - which was abandoned over eight years ago - has been at risk of breaking up or exploding for years. According to UNDP, the oil aboard the Safer is being pumped into the replacement vessel Yemen (formerly Nautica) in a ship-to-ship transfer that is expected to take 19 days to complete.
“We know that it would devastate fishing communities in Yemen’s Red Sea coast…likely wiping out 200,000 livelihoods instantly,” said Ms. Bel. “So whole communities of the region would be exposed to life-threatening toxins.”
The UNDP spokesperson added: “The environmental impact on coral reefs, life supporting mangroves and other marine life would be severe and we estimate that fish stocks would take 25 years to recover.”
A catastrophic oilspill would likely also close the ports of Hudaydah and Saleef “which are essential to bring food, fuel and lifesaving supplies into Yemen, where 17 million people need food assistance”, Ms. Bel explained.
In addition, shipping on the Suez Canal could be disrupted for weeks and a potential clean-up bill could easily run into the tens of billions of dollars, experts have warned.
Although the ship-to-ship transfer of the Safer oil is an important milestone, it is not the end of the operation.
A critical next step is arranging for the delivery of a specialized buoy to hold the replacement vessel in place safely and securely.
“There's a long-term solution because we will need, after removing the oil, to tow and scrap the Safer and make sure that we store the oil,” explained Ms. Bel. “So, you can see this is such a complex operation…to my knowledge, this is the very first time that we deal with such a project.”
The UN will need about $20 million in funding to finish the project, which includes cleaning and scrapping the Safer and removing any remaining environmental threat to marine life.
-ends-
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk made the following remarks to the Human Rights Council annual panel on adverse impacts of climate change.
1
1
2
Edited News | WHO
The first meagre midweek delivery of urgently needed medical goods to enter Gaza in months will provide scant relief to the enclave’s people, who continue to be shot and killed as they search for food, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.
2
1
2
Statements , Edited News | HRC
Enhanced interactive dialogue on the High Commissioner’s report on Myanmar presented by Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and oral update by Thomas Andrews, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar
1
1
1
Edited News | UNOG
The conflict-impacted people of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) urgently need much more international assistance than they are getting today, the UN’s top aid official said on Thursday.
1
1
2
Edited News | UNOG
Violence in Myanmar is spiralling as the military junta increases its attacks on monasteries, schools and camps sheltering people uprooted by the civil war, a top independent human rights investigator warned on Wednesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan on Palestinians killed seeking food in Gaza
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
Iran-Israel war: UN rights office concerned over strike on Tehran prison, reported espionage arrests
Tehran’s notorious Evin prison known for holding dissidents should not be a target, the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) said on Tuesday, a day after a reported Israeli strike on the complex.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNICEF , WHO
Death and suffering in Gaza are ever-present and the enclave's people now have little choice but to risk their lives to fetch aid supplies, UN agencies said on Friday. “I met a little boy who was wounded by a tank shell at one of these sites on the final day of me leaving Gaza - I learnt that this little boy had since died of those injuries,” said UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson James Elder. “That speaks to both what is happening at these sites and what is not happening when it comes to medical evacuations.”
1
1
1
Edited News | UNCTAD
UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) launched today the World Investment Report 2025. Global foreign direct investment (FDI) fell by 11%, marking the second consecutive year of decline and confirming a deepening slowdown in productive capital flows, according to the report.
1
1
1
Edited News
Afghan journalist Zahra Nader fled twice due to Taliban rule, highlighting severe women's rights issues.
1
1
1
Edited News
Gazan photojournalist Motaz Azaiza documents war's impact, gaining global attention but facing personal peril.
1
1
1
Edited News | HRC
As the Iran-Israel crisis continued into a sixth day, the UN deputy human rights chief Nada Al-Nashif called for urgent talks to end the continuing exchanges of missile attacks between Tehran and Tel-Aviv.