The United Nations is still waiting for Yemen’s Houthi group to allow the deployment of an assessment team to a decaying oil tanker that is threatening to spill 1.1 million barrels of crude oil.
According to Reuters, two weeks ago, the U.N. aid chief Mark Lowcock told that Houthi officials had agreed to allow a U.N. team to conduct a technical assessment, as well as initial repairs.
However, the U.N. Yemen mediator Martin Griffiths informed that the UN is still ”awaiting the permissions necessary for this team to deploy.”
The Safer tanker has been stranded off Yemen for more than five years. Earlier this month the Security Council called on the Houthis to allow unconditional U.N. access to the tanker as soon as possible.
In addition, Mr. Lowcock earlier this month said that a U.N. team could deploy within three weeks of receiving all necessary permits.
What is more, on May 27 water started leaking into the engine room, which threatens to destabilize the tanker and that while divers from the Safer Corporation were able to fix the leak “it is impossible to say how long it might hold.”
According to the UN, the Safer could spill four times as much oil as the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster off Alaska.
