UN Humanitarian Chief Warns 1.6Mln Yemenis May Be Affected By Oil Spill From Tanker Safer

UN Humanitarian Chief Warns 1.6Mln Yemenis May Be Affected By Oil Spill From Tanker Safer

UNITED NATIONS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th July, 2020) As many as 1.6 million people in Yemen would be directly impacted if the deserted oil tanker Safer, moored for nearly six years, collapses and spills oil into the Red Sea, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock said on Wednesday.

"If a spill were to occur in the next two months, experts project that 1.6 million Yemenis would be directly affected," Lowcock told a UN Security Council meeting. "Essentially, every fishing community along Yemen's west coast would see their livelihoods collapse and would suffer substantial economic losses. About 90 percent of people in these communities already need humanitarian assistance."

Lowcock noted that much of the 1.1 million barrels of oil held in the tanker would likely remain near Yemen's coast, potentially leading to a closure of the port of Hudaydah for an extended period.

This outcome would destabilize commercial and aid imports and add even more suffering to people already facing hunger in Sanaa, Saudi and Ibb, as well as push the entire country toward famine, Lowcock said.

Besides, a leak of the tanker at the end of May brought Yemen and its neighbors closer than ever to an environmental disaster, Lowcock added.

Last week, the rebel Houthi movement that is in control of the western Red Sea ports informed the United Nations about their readiness to authorize a technical mission to assess the tanker and conduct initial repairs.

However, Lowcock noted, industry experts suggested that extracting the oil might be the only way to eradicate the risk of a catastrophic spill from a 44-year-old tanker.