War-torn Yemen has no capacity or ability to deal with the impact of a massive oil spill, endangering the entire marine ecosystem and economy of the Red Sea – an area that is home to key shipping lanes. The systems needed to pump inert gas into the tanker stopped working in 2017 and the tanker was deemed to be beyond repair. The operations of the tanker were suspended in 2015 because of the conflict between Houthi rebels and a pro-Government coalition in Yemen – and the structural integrity of the tanker deteriorated. This ship is anchored around 4.8 nautical miles off the coast of Al Hudaydah Governorate in Yemen and contains an estimated 1.14 million barrels of light crude. The Safer was built as a supertanker in 1976 and converted a decade later into what is in effect a floating oil container. How did the tanker end up off the Yemen coast? The decaying Safer continues to pose an environmental threat, the UN is warning. After two years of fund-raising, the pumping of oil by a UN salvage team from the FSO Safer to a replacement vessel the Yemen began on 25 July.
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