More than 1 million barrels of oil removed from deteriorating tanker moored off Yemen, UN says

By EDITH M. LEDERER and JACK JEFFERY
Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations says an environmental disaster has been prevented with the transfer of 1.1 million barrels of oil from a deteriorating tanker moored off the coast of war-torn Yemen. An international team began siphoning the oil from the dilapidated vessel, the FSO Safer, on July 25. The U.N. said on Friday that almost all of the oil is now aboard a replacement tanker. International organizations and rights groups had long warned of a potential spill involving the aging tanker The U.N. says more funding is needed to finish the salvage operation. Before the transfer, the Safer carried four times as much oil as was spilled in the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster off Alaska.