The United Nations announced today, Tuesday, that it has started "removing oil from a decaying giant tanker off the coast of Yemen in the Red Sea." UN Secretary-General António Guterres stated, "In the absence of anyone willing or able to undertake this task, the UN intervened and took on the risks of executing this delicate operation." He added, "The oil transfer operation that began today is an important next step in preventing a widespread environmental and humanitarian disaster." The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) mentioned in a statement that "the operation aims to extract over one million barrels of oil from the Safer giant tanker."
In response to a question about the risks of the operation, UNDP spokesperson Sarah Bell said at a press conference in Geneva, "We are clearly very cautious; this is just the beginning of the transfer process." She added, "The cost of an oil spill is estimated at around $20 billion, and cleanup would take years." She warned that any oil spill could reach the African coast, damaging fishery resources for the next twenty-five years and eliminating 200,000 jobs. She further explained that it would also lead to the closure of ports that transport food and supplies to Yemen, where approximately 17 million people rely on humanitarian aid.
