UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is deeply concerned about the condition of the Safer oil tanker moored off the western coast of Yemen and asks for UN access for assessment, said his spokesman on Friday.

The secretary-general urges the removal of any obstacles to the efforts needed to mitigate the dangers posed by the tanker without delay, said Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman, in a statement.

Guterres specifically calls for granting independent technical experts unconditional access to the tanker to assess its condition and conduct any possible initial repairs. This technical assessment will provide crucial scientific evidence for next steps to be taken in order to avert catastrophe, said the statement.

The aging tanker has had almost no maintenance since 2015 and risks causing a major oil spill, explosion or fire that would have catastrophic environmental and humanitarian consequences for Yemen and the region, it said.

The Houthi rebels, who control the territory where Safer is moored, first indicated on July 5 that they would allow an inspection and emergency repair team to board the floating oil storage and offloading vessel. An official UN request was sent on July 14.

One month later, the United Nations is still waiting for permission from Houthi rebels, who have recently come back to the United Nations with a range of technical follow-up questions, said Dujarric on Wednesday.

Earlier on Friday, Guterres' press office said the issue should not be politicized.

"Averting this calamity should not be politicized. It is about people's lives and futures," said the office in a note to correspondents.

The Yemeni people are already facing impossible odds: a war, a free-falling economy, diseases, shattered public institutions, unreliable infrastructure, hunger, and uncertain futures. The Safer oil tanker is a solvable problem and does not need to be added to their many other burdens, it said.

On May 27, 2020, seawater leaked into the engine room, threatening to destabilize and sink the entire vessel, and potentially releasing all the 1.1 million barrels of crude oil into the sea. A temporary fix by divers from the Safer corporation succeeded in containing the leak. But the fix is unlikely to hold for very long, warned the United Nations.

"Planning and executing a sustainable solution will not be possible without independent experts first assessing the damage. And the assessment cannot be completed if the experts are not granted the required visas and permits to deploy to the tanker."

An oil spill would have catastrophic environmental and humanitarian consequences, including destroying livelihoods and shutting down Hodeidah port, a vital lifeline for millions of Yemenis who depend on commercial imports and humanitarian aid.

The tragic Beirut explosion on Aug. 4 and the recent alarming oil spill in Mauritius from a Japanese bulk carrier demand the world's vigilance and urgent action to avert preventable loss of life and livelihoods where possible, said the note to correspondents.

Research by independent experts indicates that an oil spill from Safer could destroy Red Sea ecosystems on which almost 30 million people depend, including 1.6 million Yemenis. All the fisheries along the Yemeni west coast would be impacted within days and the livelihoods of the fishing communities would collapse, at a time when 90 percent of these populations are already dependent on humanitarian aid, it said.

An oil spill could lead to the closure of the key port of Hodeidah for up to six months. Experts estimate that a six-month closure would increase fuel prices in Yemen by 200 percent for months, double food prices and hinder the delivery of vital humanitarian aid to millions of Yemenis. At this time of economic hardship, the risk of famine may again already be on the horizon. Yemen cannot afford the closure of its largest port as it is almost entirely dependent on imports for its basic needs of food and medicines, it said.

Other Red Sea littoral countries, including Djibouti, Eritrea and Saudi Arabia, would suffer as well. A spill could also debilitate one of the world's busiest commercial shipping routes through the Red Sea, which accounts for about 10 percent of global trade.

Overall, the impact of an oil spill from the Safer tanker would cost an estimated 1.5 billion U.S. dollars over 25 years, said the note.

If fire erupts on Safer for any reason, more than 8.4 million people would be exposed to harmful levels of pollutants, it said.

The government of Yemen and the Houthis first approached the United Nations to provide support in resolving the Safer tanker issue in early 2018. But the escalation of military hostilities on the Yemeni west coast throughout most of 2018 made safe access to the tanker impossible.

With the Yemeni parties concluding the Stockholm Agreement in December 2018, which included a governorate-wide cease-fire in Hodeidah, safe access became possible once again. In 2019, both Yemeni parties approved the deployment of a UN technical team to assess the damage and conduct any feasible immediate repairs.

The Houthi authorities granted the United Nations the travel authorizations to come to Hodeidah but did not provide the final clearances necessary to access the tanker by sea. They further raised several demands, including some unrelated to Safer, that eventually led to the cancellation of the mission, according to the note.

Since then, the United Nations has repeatedly attempted to obtain the required authorizations to deploy the expert team. Enditem

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