Coast guards stand near a ship docked in the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, Yemen, on May 13, 2019. (Xinhua)
As part of an emergency operation, the UN Development Programme purchased from Belgian shipping company Euronav in March the vessel "Nautica" to remove over a million barrels of oil from the decaying Safer tanker.
UNITED NATIONS, May 4 (Xinhua) -- There is a "crucial need" for additional money to close the funding gap to salvage the Safer oil tanker off Yemen's Red Sea coast, a United Nations spokesman said on Thursday.
A pledging event hosted Thursday by Britain and the Netherlands for the UN-led Safer project raised 5.6 million U.S. dollars in new funding, Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, told reporters.
The UN calls on the international community to help close the funding gap, which still stands at 23.8 million dollars for the emergency phase, he said.
The Safer tanker, a 47-year-old vessel that has moored off Yemen and has not been maintained since 2015 because of the conflict in Yemen, has decayed to the point where there is an imminent risk it could explode or break apart, which would have disastrous environmental effects on the region.
As part of an emergency operation, the UN Development Programme purchased from Belgian shipping company Euronav in March the vessel "Nautica" to remove over a million barrels of oil from the decaying Safer tanker. The vessel is expected to arrive in Yemen in early May.
According to Haq, an additional 19 million dollars is also required for the critical second phase of the UN-coordinated operation to avert a catastrophic oil spill in the Red Sea.
"It is urgent that this gap is closed to successfully implement the operation," Haq said.
"While we appreciate the contributions received so far, there is a crucial need for the funds to allow us to complete the task that we have begun," he added. ■
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