In light of the efforts to avoid an environmental disaster in the Red Sea, the United Nations (UN) has come a long way in the process of unloading the oil stored in the dilapidated and abandoned floating oil storage (FSO) Safer, anchored off the coast of Al-Hodeidah Governorate in western Yemen, as it has reached the final stages. Two days ago, UN announced that more than 71 percent of its oil had been transferred to the alternative ship 'Yemen' (formerly known as Nautica).

As the unloading process continues around the clock, the UN hopes to successfully complete this process within 19 days, noting that the process was launched on July 26.

Secretary-General of UN Antonio Guterre said that starting the process of transferring oil from Safer is a crucial step in avoiding an environmental and humanitarian catastrophe on a massive scale, describing the process as an operation to defuse what might be the world's largest ticking time bomb.

Administrator of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Achim Steiner stressed that with every barrel of oil unloaded from the Safer taker, the future of Yemeni fishers and communities is more secure, emphasizing the UN's commitment to continuous work to protect livelihoods there.

However, UN warned that even after the completion of the unloading process, the Safer tanker will continue to pose a threat to the environment, due to the viscous oil that will remain in it and the risk of its continuous collapse.

A spokesperson for UNDP said that the unloading process requires extreme caution, while specialized experts expressed their doubt regarding the certainty of success of the process, explaining that high temperatures, old pipes and other factors pose potential threats. (MORE)

Source: Qatar News Agency