Leaking tankers threaten health, livelihoods along Yemen's coast
A series of recent pollution incidents in the port of Aden has brought newfound urgency to addressing the hazardous vessels.
Since 2013, tanker ships linked to one of Yemen’s most powerful businessmen have been leaking oil and waste off the country's southern coast, threatening fishermen's livelihoods, putting residents’ health at risk and poisoning the environment.
A series of recent pollution incidents in the port of Aden has brought newfound urgency to neutralizing the hazardous vessels that are languishing near beaches frequented by locals.
Dutch nongovernmental organization PAX documented via satellite imagery a small leak, possibly bilge water, from the oil tanker Sichem Fenol-1 in the north Aden bay on July 2, 2022.
A team from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), part of Yemen’s Aden-based government, visited the bay’s northern shore on July 7. They reported that an oily substance was visible on the sides of boats, on anchors and ropes, and in containers and plastic bags along a 1-kilometer-long stretch of beach.
