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The top of the UN maritime physique stated on Wednesday that he was “extraordinarily involved” in regards to the danger of an oil spill within the Crimson Sea, after Yemen’s Houthi rebels set hearth to a tanker carrying 1mn barrels of crude.
The assertion from Arsenio Dominguez, secretary-general of the Worldwide Maritime Group, underlined rising worldwide concern in regards to the destiny of the Greek-owned Sounion, which was disabled in a missile assault final week.
The Houthis then started a fire by setting off explosives on the decks, after the crew had been rescued.
The Pentagon sounded the alarm on Tuesday by warning that the vessel was leaking a few of its cargo of Iraqi crude, heightening fears of a bigger and extra damaging oil spill.
The EU naval activity power on Wednesday described the ship as a “severe and imminent risk”, though it didn’t consider the cargo had but leaked.
“I’m extraordinarily involved in regards to the scenario relating to the tanker Sounion, which was focused whereas transiting the southern Crimson Sea,” Dominguez stated in an announcement.
“The danger of an oil spill, posing an especially severe environmental hazard, stays excessive and there’s widespread concern in regards to the harm such a spill would trigger throughout the area.”
A bulletin from the EU naval activity power was accompanied by footage that confirmed a number of fires on the vessel, which is sitting 77 nautical miles west of the Yemeni port of Hodeidah. The vessel can also be clearly itemizing in one of many footage.
“Sounion poses each a navigational danger and a severe and imminent risk of regional air pollution,” the assertion stated.
A leak from the Sounion, whose 1mn-barrel cargo is equal to 150,000 tonnes, can be prone to produce essentially the most severe hydrocarbon spill for the reason that Sanchi tanker catastrophe in 2018.
The Sanchi leaked 113,000 tonnes of natural-gas condensate into the South China Sea after a collision. It may very well be the worst for the reason that ABT Summer time sank off the coast of Angola in 1991, spilling 260,000 tonnes of crude oil.
Efforts to salvage the Sounion have up to now been unsuccessful due to the risk posed by the Houthis. The Pentagon stated on Tuesday that two tugs had tried to salvage the ship however the Houthis had warned away their crews and threatened to assault them.
The Houthis declare to be performing in help of Gaza’s Palestinians within the conflict with Israel following Hamas’s assault on the Jewish state on October 7 final yr.
Martin Kelly, senior Center East analyst at maritime danger consultancy EOS Threat Group, stated the Sounion’s destiny continued to be “an enormous subject”.
“The sheer scale of the potential disaster must be worrying for each coastal state that will depend on any type of ecosystem within the Crimson Sea,” he stated.
