Burning Oil Tanker in Red Sea Is Towed to Safety
Tanker Fire Contained, No Casualties Reported
Firefighters Avert Catastrophic Oil Spill
A burning oil tanker in the Red Sea was towed to safety on Monday, after a fire broke out in the engine room. The fire was contained and extinguished by firefighters, and no casualties were reported.
The tanker, named the Safer, was carrying 1.1 million barrels of crude oil when the fire broke out. The fire caused the tanker to list, but it was able to be stabilized by tugboats.
The Safer was towed to the port of Salif, Yemen, where it will be inspected for damage. The fire is believed to have been caused by an electrical fault.
The Safer is a floating storage and offloading unit (FSO) that has been used to store oil from the nearby Marib oil fields since the 1980s. The FSO has been in a state of disrepair for years, and there have been concerns that it could break up and cause a catastrophic oil spill.
The fire on the Safer is a reminder of the risks posed by aging oil infrastructure. The United Nations has been warning for years that the Safer is a ticking time bomb, and it has called for international action to prevent a major oil spill.
The successful towing of the Safer to safety is a relief, but it does not address the underlying problem of the aging FSO. The United Nations and other international organizations are continuing to call for a permanent solution to the Safer problem.
Komentar