On Sunday, Saudi Arabia provided $10 million to contribute to confronting the potential economic, humanitarian and environmental threats to the oil tanker (Safer) anchored in the Red Sea coast north of the Yemeni city of Hodeidah.
The King Salman Center for Relief and Humanitarian Action announced, in a press statement, carried by the Saudi Agency (was) that the Kingdom has always supported the efforts of the United Nations to avoid the repercussions of the oil spill from the tanker, which could cause a major environmental and navigational disaster that threatens the Red Sea coast and the international fishing and navigation communities, and the entry of food, fuel and life-saving supplies to Yemen.
The Safer tanker, containing more than one million barrels, has not been serviced since 2015.
The statement stressed that the Kingdom had warned on more than one occasion that in the event of an oil spill, the world would witness the largest environmental disaster threatening underwater life, fisheries and biodiversity.
According to the statement, Saudi Arabia provided this amount “in support of the efforts of the UN organizations to find the appropriate plan to neutralize the potential danger of this tanker.”
The Kingdom called on the United Nations to quickly take the necessary measures to ensure that oil is prevented from leaking and transporting it to a safe place or benefiting from it for the benefit of the Yemeni people.
It also called on the international community to make an urgent contribution to support this initiative and prevent a serious environmental catastrophe.
Last April, the United Nations announced an emergency plan at a cost of $80 million to rescue the Safer oil tanker.
The Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator of the United Nations in Yemen, David Gressly, said that the United Nations plan to address the threat of the Safer reservoir, which he described as feasible with the aim of confronting this threat, had the support of the parties to the conflict.
Last March, the United Nations signed a memorandum of understanding with the Houthi authorities, which control the Khazzan area and most of the north of the country, to solve the tanker issue.
It is noteworthy that the supertanker is subject to rapid decomposition and is unstable and contains four times the amount of oil that was leaked in the Exxon-Valdez tanker disaster, and this huge amount is subject to leakage, spillage or explosion at any time, which greatly disrupts shipping routes in the Gulf region and other industries Through the Red Sea region, it will be the cause of a massive environmental catastrophe, and exacerbate the humanitarian crisis in Yemen.
In a joint statement, the United States and the Netherlands called, last May, to support the efforts of the United Nations to confront and avoid the economic, environmental and humanitarian threats posed by the Safer oil tanker in the Red Sea region.