Aden (Al-Ittihad)
The British Embassy in Yemen warned of the risk of a major oil spill in the Red Sea, as a result of the Houthi group targeting a Chinese ship off the Yemeni coast the day before yesterday.
The embassy indicated in a statement on the “X” platform that the Chinese-owned ship was carrying oil, stressing that “the only way to ensure safe passage in the Red Sea is for the Houthis to stop their reckless attacks.”
Earlier, the US Central Command announced that the Houthi group attacked a Chinese ship, despite the group’s declaration that it would not attack Chinese and Russian ships.
The leadership said in a statement that the Houthi group fired four anti-ship ballistic missiles towards the Red Sea near the oil tanker “M/V Huang Pu,” an oil tanker flying the Panama flag and owned and managed by China.
It indicated that a fifth ballistic missile was identified and was launched towards the Huang Pu ship, which issued a distress call without requesting help.
According to the statement, the ship suffered minor damage and a fire on board, which was extinguished within 30 minutes. There were no reports of any casualties, and the ship was able to resume its course.
The statement also stated that American forces were able to identify six Houthi drones over the southern Red Sea, five of which crashed in the Red Sea, while one of them flew towards the areas controlled by the Houthis in Yemen.
Meanwhile, Yemeni Prime Minister Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak called on the political and military forces represented in the Leadership Council and the government to unite to confront the Houthi group, accusing them of waging an economic and military war to overthrow the internationally recognized authority, he said.
Bin Mubarak’s statements came during a Ramadan evening held yesterday with high-ranking leaders, according to what was reported by the Yemeni government news agency “Saba”, in which he explained that “it is important not to ignore the main issue to which our fate relates, a nation, a people, and individuals, and it is the core and essence of everyone’s mission.” As political elites, state bodies and authorities, this is the issue of restoring the state, ending the coup, and defeating the Houthi project.”
The Yemeni Prime Minister added: “The highest priority now is to prepare ourselves and unite our forces within the Leadership Council and behind it and behind the government to confront the Houthis’ escalation. They are seeking by all means and means to finish off the state and bring it down through economic and military war, and they will not stop.”
Yesterday, the United Nations announced the provision of a mechanism and an integrated plan to deal with the disaster of the ship “Rubimar”, which sank in the Red Sea off the port of Mokha in western Yemen, carrying thousands of tons of chemical fertilizers.
This was stated by Mattia Luja, a member of the United Nations team charged with providing assistance in managing the ship crisis, during his meeting in the city of Mokha with the Governor of Hodeidah to discuss the technical analysis and recommendations issued by the international organization to deal with the crisis.
Loja said that the United Nations provided an integrated mechanism to deal with the sunken ship and avoid the risks and effects resulting from it, and 16 international experts from the fields of marine engineering, oil spills and legal affairs participated in developing the analysis and recommendations for the initial response plan to confront the crisis.
The United Nations expert confirmed that the process of recovering the sunken ship faces great challenges. Therefore, “the United Nations intends to purchase an electronic submarine to carry out the necessary disembarkation under water in order to analyze the situation and understand the disaster in a deeper way,” according to what the official Yemeni news agency reported.
For his part, Tawfiq Al-Sharjabi, Minister of Water and Environment in the Yemeni government, confirmed that his government had submitted to United Nations experts its emergency plan to deal with the repercussions of the ship sinking. Al-Sharjabi, who is head of the government crisis management cell to deal with the ship disaster, added that the Yemeni-UN plan includes, in its first phase, monitoring the Rubimar ship and the level of pollution in the area of its sinking and even the Yemeni coast due to the turbulent sea condition during these days, which has recently improved, enabling technical teams to reach Location of the ship and sampling of its surroundings.
He pointed out that the plan is for 6 months from now, and according to it, work can move to the second stage and deal directly with the ship, either by unloading its cargo or salvaging it and towing it to a nearby port for repair.
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