47-year-old super-tanker will explode in the Red Sea
47-year-old super-tanker will explode in the Red Sea: fear of spilling one million barrels of oil, stuck in the sea without maintenance for 8 years
In 2015, Yemen abandoned a supertanker vessel carrying one million barrels of oil in the Red Sea. Now after 8 years, the United Nations i.e. UN has said that this vessel will either explode or sink at any time.
Due to this, there is a possibility of a lot of damage to 4 countries including Yemen. UN Chief in Yemen David Gresley said, we do not want the Red Sea to turn into the Black Sea, but it will happen now.
Safer was created in 1976 by Hitachi Jason, a Japanese company. This vessel is 362 meters long and weighs 4 lakh 6 thousand 640 tonnes. In the year 1988, a Yemen company converted it into a storage ship vessel and started keeping oil in it.
In 2015, a civil war broke out in Yemen between the Houthi rebels and the Saudi-backed government. After this, the coastal area of Yemen came under the control of Houthi rebels. As soon as the area was captured, the rebels first banned all local and international organizations from entering the area. The Huthi rebels did not even allow the UN to repair the SAFER which was deteriorating due to lack of maintenance.
In October 2019, a Yemeni organization named Hom Akhdar published its report regarding this storage vessel. It was told that oil can leak from this vessel, which is a threat to the creatures living in the sea. After this report, the UN called both parties to a table for talks.
In 2020 the BBC reported that seawater was seeping into the storage vessel's engine room. Due to this, there can be an explosion in the ship. After this, the UN also warned that there is a danger of its explosion. Since then it is also called the time bomb of the Red Sea.
The UN has now given a last warning saying that if no action is taken immediately, it will be impossible to recover the damage caused. After leaking the oil will also reach Saudi, Djibouti and Eritrea in 2 weeks. Due to the oil spread in the sea, 1000 rare species of fish and 365 types of coral reefs will end.
The pollution spread in the sea will remain for 30 years. At the same time, the aid that the UN is sending through the sea to the war-affected areas of Yemen will also stop. Due to this the lives of 60 lakh people will be affected.
