Group warns of potential catastrophe on old tanker off Yemen

By NOHA ELHENNAWY
Associated Press

CAIRO (AP) — A leading environmental group is warning of a potential major oil leak or explosion on an aging oil tanker moored off of Yemen’s Red Sea coast. The aging vessel is loaded with more than a million barrels of crude oil. Greenpeace released a report listing the environmental, humanitarian and economic impacts of a potential oil spill from the FSO Safer on war-torn Yemen and the Red Sea region in general. The rusting, neglected Japanese-built tanker has been moored in its location 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) away from Yemen’s western Red Sea port of Ras Issa since the 1980s, when it was sold to the Yemeni government.