The Houthi rebels in Yemen control an oil tanker containing 1.1 million barrels of oil. That’s four times as much as what leaked when Exxon Valdez grounded outside Alaska in 1989.
The vessel FSO Safer is located in the Red Sea 7 kilometers off the coast of Yemen and has not been maintained since 2015.
May lead to starvation and mass death
– We have no plan b, says Yemen specialist at the UN John Ratcliffe The New Yorker.
– It would be a catastrophic situation, he continues.
250,000 liters of petrol in flames
The possible oil disaster is discussed in a study published in the journal Nature Sustainability.
If the oil leaks, nine million people could lose access to clean water and seven million lose their food supplies, which will lead to mass deaths due to hunger, dehydration and water-related diseases.
Want solution
According to Al Jazeera The UN has come on the scene to get experts on the ship several times.
In June, however, Houthier was accused of postponing a technical assessment. This despite the fact that the rebel group had previously given permission to carry out the assessment.
Houthier has also been accused of procrastinating and finding a solution to the safer crisis in order to win politically. They themselves, on the other hand, believe that the UN is to blame for the talks being broken off.
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