Oil removal underway on Greek tanker damaged by Houthi attacks

Salvors have begun the operation to transfer the crude oil remaining in the cargo tanks of the damaged Greek tanker Sounion nearly three months after the ship was first targeted by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

Sounion is now at an anchorage just south of the Suez Canal in Egypt. Participating in the offloading operation are the tug Aigaion Pelagos and the tanker Delta Blue, where the removed oil will be transferred. Delta Blue had also been the target of four separate attacks by the Houthis within a 24-hour period in early August.

Approximately 150,000 tonnes of crude oil are believed to still be in Sounion's cargo tanks. Egyptian shipping ministry officials expect the removal effort to take between three and four weeks due to the volume of oil involved.

Sounion had been targeted by repeated attacks by the Houthis while transiting the Red Sea in late August. One attack involved the use of an explosives-laden unmanned boat, which was promptly intercepted and destroyed by a French Navy warship that had arrived in the area to render assistance to the tanker.

A number of fires ignited on board, but the ship remained afloat long enough to permit it to be towed to a safe location.

Salvage experts had initially advised against the towing of the damaged tanker, saying that prevailing conditions will make the endeavour more challenging, while the US State Department had earlier remarked that the Houthis’ continued attacks on the tanker threatened to spill a million barrels of oil into the Red Sea, an amount four times the size of the Exxon Valdez disaster.