Up to 1.1 million barrels of oil could spill into the Red Sea causing a disaster four times worse than the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill, the United Nations Security Council heard on Wednesday. Time is running out to prevent a dilapidated oil tanker stranded near Yemen from causing a “looming environmental, economic and humanitarian catastrophe,” United Nations Environment Programme chief, Inger Andersen, warned. The Yemeni-government owned tanker, FSO Safer, started taking on water in May. If its oil does spill it could cause irreversible damage to the Red Sea’s rich biodiversity, including coral reefs and mangroves.
Up to 1.1 million barrels of oil could spill into the Red Sea causing a disaster four times worse than the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill, the United Nations Security Council heard on Wednesday. Time is running out to prevent a dilapidated oil tanker stranded near Yemen from causing a “looming environmental, economic and humanitarian catastrophe,” United Nations Environment Programme chief, Inger Andersen, warned. The Yemeni-government owned tanker, FSO Safer, started taking on water in May. If its oil does spill it could cause irreversible damage to the Red Sea’s rich biodiversity, including coral reefs and mangroves.