Oil tanker ablaze, adrift in Red Sea after Houthi attack, 150,000 tons of oil aboard

Lauren Taylor

AN OIL TANKER CONTINUES TO BURN IN THE RED SEA DAYS AFTER IT WAS SET ABLAZE BY HOUTHI REBELS.

 NEW PHOTOS RELEASED ON SUNDAY SHOW FLAMES SPILLING FROM THE HULL OF THE GREEK-FLAGGED VESSEL. BUT THERE ARE CURRENTLY NO SIGNS OF AN OIL SPILL.

THERE IS STILL A SIGNIFICANT ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARD – WITH 150-THOUSAND TONS OF CRUDE OIL ABOARD. 

THE CREW ABANDONED THE VESSEL LAST WEEK. 

YEMEN’S HOUTHI REBELS RELEASED VIDEO OF THE ASSAULT ON THE SHIP – THE LATEST IN A RECENT SERIES OF ATTACKS IMPACTING SHIPPING IN THE TIGHT NAVAL CORRIDOR. 

THE ATTACKS STARTS HAVE PERSISTED FOR MONTHS DISRUPTING A VITAL TRADE ROUTE THAT HANDLES $1-TRILLION-DOLLARS IN GOODS ANNUALLY.

BRITISH AND U-S FORCES HAVE BEEN WORKING TO STOP HOUTHI DRONE AND MISSILE ATTACKS, BUT ANALYSTS SAY THEY ARE UNLIKELY TO STOP UNTIL THERE IS A CEASEFIRE IN GAZA.

IF AN OIL SPILL DOES OCCUR – IT HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BE ONE OF THE LARGEST FROM A SHIP IN RECORDED HISTORY. 

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