UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations said on Tuesday it is ready to start salvage work on an oil tanker stranded off Yemen’s coast with more than one million barrels of crude on board, posing an acute risk to the environment.

“We’re very happy to be on site where we can start the work,” David Gressly, the UN coordinator for Yemen, said by videoconference from aboard a support vessel that has arrived at the stricken ship, the FSO Safer.

In an unprecedented salvage plan, the UN has purchased a super-tanker to remove the oil from the vessel in the Red Sea. The actual pumping

will start in about 10 days to two weeks, said Gressly.

Published in Dawn, May 31st, 2023