[1/5] The Nautica, a replacement oil tanker for the decaying FSO Safer, arrives in the Red Sea port of Hodeidah, Yemen July 17, 2023.
REUTERS/Adel al-KhadherUNITED NATIONS, July 18 (Reuters) - An operation to start removing some 1.1 million barrels of oil from a decaying tanker moored off Yemen's coast could start by the end of the week, the United Nations said on Tuesday.
U.N. officials have been warning for years that the Red Sea and Yemen's coastline were at risk as the tanker Safer could spill four times as much oil as the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster off Alaska.
Another vessel is already alongside the Safer to help with the transfer of oil.
Yemen has been mired in conflict since the Iran-aligned Houthi group ousted the government from the capital Sanaa in late 2014.
Persons:
U.N, Stephane Dujarric, Michelle Nichols
Organizations:
REUTERS, UNITED NATIONS, United Nations, Thomson
Locations:
Red, Hodeidah, Yemen, Adel, Alaska, U.N, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Riyadh, Tehran