A salvage operation to recover Greek registered oil tanker “Sounion” stranded in the Red Sea after an attack by Houthi militants is expected to start in coming days barring any major upset, two sources with knowledge of the matter said on Friday, according to Reuters..
“What was decided yesterday is an initial gameplan, of the operation starting in 48 hours,” one of the sources said. A second source said the operation was likely to be complex, since Houthis had rigged the vessel with explosives, reuters reported.
Yemen’s Houthi militants carried out multiple assaults, including planting bombs on the already disabled 900-foot (274.2-metre) Sounion that is laden with about 1 million barrels of oil.
On Wednesday, the Iran-aligned militants said they would allow salvage crews to tow the ship – which has been on fire since Aug. 23 – to safety.
According to Greek media, the plan to tow tanker “Sounion” to safety in order to avoid an oil spill and an ecological disaster bigger than the one of Exxon Valdez in Aalaska in 1989 has been agreed between Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Saudi Arabia as well as European and other officials.
Greek, French and Italian vessels participating in the European Union’s Operation Shields will accompany the Sounion during the operation, while Saudi Arabia will likely oversee the transfer and extraction of the oil, the same sources said.
Update on M/V SOUNION:
The M/V SOUNION has been on fire since August 23rd.
EUNAVFOR ASPIDES 🇪🇺 operating assets in the area have reported that there are fires detected in several locations on the main deck of the vessel. There’s no oil spill, and the ship is still anchored and… pic.twitter.com/urJIZ0Y5AW
— EUNAVFOR ASPIDES (@EUNAVFORASPIDES) August 28, 2024
Greek media said that also Iran may oversea the transfer of the oil.
🚨🇱🇧Houthi Rebels climb aboard the Sounion a large
🇬🇷Greek oil tanker and wired it with explosives and
Ignited the oil tanker from a distance in a different boat.The oil tanker was carrying
1 million barrels this is 3X the amount of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska. pic.twitter.com/DNCp17pKYB— Todd Paron🇺🇸🇬🇷🎧👽 (@tparon) August 24, 2024
Loaded with one million barrels of crude oil from Iraqi Greek flagged tanker “Sounionn“ was attacked by the Houthi and set on fire on August 21, 2024.
![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2024/08/30/greek-flagged-oil-tanker-sounion-salvage-plan/&media=https://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/souniontanker.webp&description=A salvage operation to recover Greek registered oil tanker "Sounion" stranded in the Red Sea after an attack by Houthi militants is expected){kind=link}