A 47-year-old ship could cause "one of the worst oil spills in human history."

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The United Nations officially launched its mission this week to prevent what it says could be an "environmental catastrophe" on the Red Sea. Sitting off the coast of Yemen lies a nearly half-century-old ship with roughly 1.14 million barrels of crude oil on board, the global agency said – and it's "deteriorating rapidly." 

The massive 47-year-old supertanker, FSO Safer, rests just about 5 1/2 miles off of Yemen's coast, where it has gone without maintenance for seven years. 

"Its structural integrity is compromised, and it is deteriorating rapidly," the U.N. says. "There is a serious risk the vessel could be struck by a floating mine, spontaneously explode or break apart at any moment." 

[thaibeachlovers]

The tanker sent to unload the full one should be there now or shortly.

Source: Al Jazeera.

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3 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

The tanker sent to unload the full one should be there now or shortly.

Source: Al Jazeera.

As that Al-Jazeera article notes:

The operation, the first of its kind, is a risky one – but the potential leaking of the remaining oil in the deteriorating tanker that the Yemeni government purchased in the 1980s is even more so.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/7/16/the-uns-yemeni-oil-tanker-operation-heres-what-to-know

[thaibeachlovers]

 

https://www.voanews.com/a/team-set-to-start-siphoning-oil-out-of-rusting-tanker-moored-off-yemen-un-says-/7193242.html

 

CAIRO — 

An international team is set to begin siphoning oil out of the hull of a decrepit tanker moored off the coast of war-torn Yemen this week, a U.N. official said Sunday. It will mark the first concrete step in an operation years in the making aimed at preventing a massive oil spill in the Red Sea.

 

 

[thaibeachlovers]

According to Al Jazira, the oil has been removed entirely. No longer a threat of oil spill.