The environment of the Red Sea is facing disaster
Yemen’s internationally recognized government has warned that the cargo ship sunk by the Houthis last month has put the Red Sea’s environment in jeopardy.
The Belize-flagged ship has since been inspected by a Yemeni government team. The Yemeni government reported that the British-owned cargo ship Rubima partially sank in the southern Red Sea on Friday night. It will sink completely in a few days.
The US military said the cargo ship was heavily damaged in the Houthi attack. The oil spilled over an area of 29 kilometres from the ship’s position. They also claimed that the ship had more than 41,000 metric tons of fertilizer at the time of the attack.
Ali Al-Sawalmih, director of the Marine Science Station at the University of Jordan, warned that the excessive amount of fertilizer flowing into the Red Sea is a major danger to marine life.
Excess nutrients can accelerate algae growth. As a result, more oxygen will be required. He also said that marine animals cannot survive in this way.
The Southern Red Sea is home to pristine coral reefs, coastal mangroves and diverse marine life. Therefore, Sawalmih urged the neighboring countries to take a quick plan to maintain the cleanliness of the Red Sea, including monitoring.
Last year, the UN prevented an environmental disaster by removing a million barrels of oil from a supertanker that was in trouble off the coast of Yemen.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels, supported by Iran, have been attacking Israeli and Western commercial ships in the Red and Black seas since mid-November in protest of Israeli attacks on Pelestani civilians.
This is the first shipwreck in the Red Sea since the attack. They threatened to keep attacking in retaliation for the Israeli attack on Gaza and to show support for the Palestinians.
