Fires Spotted on Abandoned Greek Tanker as Vessel Drifts in Red Sea

Reports are coming in that fires have been spotted aboard the abandoned Greek tanker Sounion after the crew left the vessel yesterday. It is raising concerns about a potential environmental disaster that would be among the largest oil spills in history.

The French frigate Chevalier Paul defended the tanker yesterday from a further attack by the Houthi while also coordinating the evacuation of the 29 crewmembers. When they left the vessel, the French reported there had been smoke from the engine room and that the vessel had taken on water, but it was believed according to the reports that the fires had been extinguished. 

The UK Maritime Trade Operations issued an update today saying it had been told that it appears there are three fires now burning on the vessel. In addition, earlier reports had said the ship had dropped its anchors and that Delta Tankers was arranging for its salvage. UKMTO now cautions that the vessel appears to be drifting.

The crew of the tanker, which includes a Russian captain 24 Filipino seafarers as well as three from India and one from Nepal, arrived in Djibouti at around 2200 last night according to the port authority. They said all the crew were safe and being attended to following a similar report from the authorities in the Philippines. Reports said one crewmember received minor injuries.

The vessel is fully laden with approximately 150,000 tonnes (more than 900,000 barrels) of crude loaded in Iraq. It was bound according to the reports for Cyprus.

EU officials had issued a statement calling for caution and urging everyone in the area to “refrain from any actions that could lead to a deterioration of the current situation.” The Houthis in the past have been known to board disabled vessels and renew their attacks.

Officials in Djibouti today issued an urgent call for immediate intervention by the Regional Organization for the Conservation of the Environment of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. They are urging that actions be taken to mitigate the impact of the attack and protect the marine environment.

UN officials two years ago when they were dealing with the decaying FSO Safer in Yemen warned of the consequences of a large oil spill in the region. The storage vessel had about one million barrels aboard and the UN said a large spill would be an environmental and humanitarian catastrophe cutting across the destruction of pristine reefs, coastal mangroves, and other sea life across the Red Sea, exposing millions of people to the pollution and cutting off food, fuel, and other life-saving supplies. Coastal communities the UN emphasized would be hit hardest with hundreds of thousands of jobs in the fishing industry being lost. The UN estimated it would take 25 years for fish stocks to recover while the cost of cleanup alone would be a staggering $20 billion if the Safer had ruptured. A spill from the Sounion would be on the same magnitude.