Minister of Transport calls on UN to cooperate seriously on ‘Safer’ ship issue
Minister of Transport Amer Al-Marani discussed with Samia Al-Duaij, an environmental and emergency response expert at the United Nations Development Program, the repercussions and catastrophic risks resulting from any oil spill from the Safer Reservoir in the Red Sea.
The meeting, which was attended by the Head of the Technical Office at the Ministry of Transport, Abdul Karim Saleh, touched on the emergency and response plan submitted by the United Nations Development Program with the aim of avoiding any explosion or oil leakage from the floating tank of the Safer ship.
The meeting also touched on threats to the region, environment and marine wealth in the Red Sea in the event of an oil spill from the Safer ship, which has been out of service since March 2015 due to the aggression.
In the meeting, the Minister of Transport touched upon the interest of the revolutionary leadership, the Supreme Political Council and the Salvation Government in the Safer reservoir, in continuous communication with the United Nations, to find solutions and treatments for the reservoir and to prevent oil leakage from it, given the risks to the environment in the regional waters and the region.
He expressed regret that the United Nations had evaded the agreements regarding the Safer ship and its lack of interest in this aspect, and the failure to implement the outcomes of the meetings in this regard.
Minister Al-Marani explained that the countries of the aggression coalition led by Saudi Arabia withdrew the ship’s crew and prevented the engineers from providing the ship’s maintenance work.
He pointed out that a committee was formed to evaluate and implement maintenance work for the Safer ship, but the aggression deliberately ignored this, by turning the ship into a war card until it reached a deteriorating state.
The Minister of Transport called on the United Nations to cooperate and work seriously and carefully on the issue of the Safer ship to preserve the environment and marine life and the catastrophic repercussions that would befall the region.
In turn, the environmental expert at the United Nations Development Program indicated that the response plan submitted by the United Nations Development Program includes the solidarity of all to preserve the environment and marine life in the Red Sea in the event of any explosions or oil spills from the Safer Reservoir.
She stressed that the goal of the plan is to avoid any environmental and marine disasters through the coastal response, which depends on human efforts with highly qualified and experienced people, enabling it to achieve an effective response to avoid risks and disasters in the Red Sea
