Arab Parliament speaker urges swift action on FSO Safer

Mishaal Al Salami is pleading with the international community to take action over the rusting hulk off the Yemeni coast

The FSO Safer is moored off the west coast of Yemen where its deterioration is a cause of growing concern. Getty

Arab Parliament Speaker Mishaal Al Salami on Friday pleaded with the international community to take action over a rusting abandoned oil tanker in the Red Sea that could cause an environmental disaster.

The FSO Safer lays off the Yemeni coast of Hodeidah and is carrying nearly 1.1 million barrels of oil. But the decades-old hulk has been abandoned since the start of the war in 2015 and is crumbling.

Mr Al Salami said the Iran-backed Houthi rebels were “completely responsible” for preventing a UN team of experts who are attempting to carry out a survey of repairs needed on the vessel.

The warning came in a letter to the United Nations, permanent members of the Security Council, the EU, as well as heads of parliaments and foreign ministers around the world.

The international community must act “immediately and urgently to grant the team access in order to avert this major humanitarian disaster,” he demanded.

Saudi Arabia last week told the United Nations that oil spots were seen in the sea near the tanker and again warned that a leak of crude would not only devastate the Yemeni coast but impact countries up and down the Red Sea.

The UN has said that the tanker could spill four times as much oil as during the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster off Alaska.

The Yemeni government has also urged action and blamed the Houthi militia of seeking to extract concessions from the international community in order to agree to the unloading. One of the issues raised by the Houthis is who would get the proceeds of selling any viable oil stored in the ship.