UN prevents catastrophic oil spill in the Red Sea, critical work continues

Funding is needed now to complete the work

Moored off Yemen’s Red Sea coast, the FSO Safer is a decaying supertanker that could have spilled more than a million barrels of oil into the Red Sea. The result would have been an environmental, humanitarian and economic catastrophe.

In August, a UN-coordinated operation transferred the oil from the 47-year-old Safer to the safe replacement vessel Yemen (formerly Nautica). The oil transfer prevented the worst-case scenario: a catastrophic spill four times greater than the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill.

But even after the transfer, the Safer still poses a residual environmental threat, holding viscous oil residue that can only be removed during a final cleaning and still at risk of breaking apart. Further funding is required to tow the Safer for green recycling and ensure safe storage of the oil.

Generous donors, private companies and members of the public have contributed $121 million towards the UN-coordinated plan to prevent the spill. The UN needs the last $22 million to finish the project.

Your donation today will help galvanize further support from governments and private companies and bring us a step closer to safe recycling of the Safer.