[26/05/2020 12:57]

RIYADH - SABA
Yemen is warning again of a preventable epic environmental disaster for itself and other countries overlooking the Red Sea.

Information Minister Muammar al-Eryani said the oil tanker stranded off Hodeidah port city with corroded tanker containing more than one million barrels of crude oil could explode soon and cause epic damages because Houthi militants did not allow UN maintenance experts access to it.

"The leakage of 138 million liters of crude oil to the Red Sea will lead to the closure of Hodeidah seaport for months, the shortage of fuel and supplies and the rise of prices in Yemen by 800%, and will leave a damage worth USD10 billion over the next 20 years," he said.

The damages will "affect all countries overlooking the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden and it will affect the international trade in Bab Almandeb Strait and the Suez Canal," he said. "It will leave huge and decades-long damage to the ecological balance along the coastline" between the Strait and the Canal.

Going into further details of the scenario, he said if a fire or explosion occurs during the leakage, "three million people in Hodeidah city will be affected by the toxic fumes, 500 thousand fishermen and their 1.7 million dependents will become needful for food assistance."

Rainwater will mix with the toxic fumes and end up together in the underground water layers which will be a source of health problems to six million people, he said citing more damages.

The government through several officials had repeatedly warned of the likely disaster, demanding UN officials to pressure the theocratic militia fighting the government for six years into allowing UN maintenance experts access to the 'time bomb' tanker stranded since 2015.

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