The UN launched a cri d’alarm, on Mardi, to collect 14 million dollars that would help to start a large oil spill in Yemen and cause a black sea, which would collect 20 million dollars to clean.
“There is less than $14 million left to reach the planned $80 million and start the emergency operation to transfer the oil from the Safer to a safe ship,” Russell Geekie, adviser to the UN coordinator for Yemen, said during the session. periodic briefing of the international organization in Geneva.
“The operation cannot be carried out without us having received the necessary funds,” warned Russell Geekie, who explained that of the 66 million already promised by various donors, only ten million have been disbursed so far, so the ship could break. or explode “at any moment”. moment”.
“The strong currents and winds between October and December further increase the risk of disaster and if we do not act, the ship will break and disaster will occur. It is only a matter of time,” he said and insisted.
The FSO Safer, abandoned since the start of the civil war in 2015
The possible oil spill could be the fifth most serious caused by an oil tanker, said Russell Geekie, who estimated that “cleanup operations alone would cost $20 billion.”
Taking into account the 2nd phase, which includes the replacement of the FSO Safer with a safe and durable solution, the total cost is estimated at 144 million dollars. The UN is committed to continuing to try to reduce the total cost.
The FSO Safer oil tanker, anchored off the strategic port of Hodeida (west), contains the equivalent of just over a million barrels and is at risk of breaking up, exploding or catching fire at any time, according to experts.
About 45 years old, the oil tanker that serves as a floating storage and offloading terminal has not received service since 2015, when Yemen plunged into one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world due to the war that opposes power to the Houthi rebels who control the port of Hodeida.
The eventual oil spill could be the fifth worst caused by a tanker, Rus said, estimating that “cleanup operations alone would cost $20 billion.”
According to the UN, the Safer contains four times the amount of the Exxon Valdez, the tanker that in 1989 caused one of the biggest environmental disasters in US history.
The environmental NGO Greenpeace has called on Arab countries to act “before it is too late.” According to her, the tanker threatens not only “the population of Yemen and neighboring countries”, but also “the fragile ecosystems of the region, in particular the unique biodiversity of the Red Sea”.
Source: BFM TV
