Yemen fuel tanker FSO Safer could ‘explode at any moment’: Greenpeace

Yemen fuel tanker FSO Safer could ‘explode at any moment’: Greenpeace

Greenpeace warned Thursday that a long-abandoned fuel tanker off war-torn Yemen's coast could "explode at any moment,“ urging UN action to prevent a catastrophic Red Sea oil spill.

The 45-year-old fuel vessel FSO Safer has 1.1 million barrels of crude onboard, and has been abandoned near Yemen's western port of Hodeida since 2015.

"The FSO Safer is rusting at anchor and could break or explode at any moment,“ said Greenpeace spokesman Ahmed El Droubi.

"It's not if, it's when,“ Droubi added.

For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.

The UN Security Council are to meet later Thursday after Houthi militia -- who control much of Yemen's north -- said an agreement to allow a UN mission to inspect the tanker had "reached a dead end.“

Effectively a floating storage platform, it has had virtually no maintenance for six years, and now environmentalists warn it could break apart.

Greenpeace said that as well as corrosion to the rusting ship, essential work to manage explosive gases in its storage tanks has been neglected.

Jennifer Morgan, executive director of Greenpeace International, said the UN "must act now to avoid what could be the region's biggest oil disaster“ for decades.

"The solutions are available, the