UN secures insurance to remove oil from rusting tanker off Yemen

The Safer tanker is in danger of sinking (Osamah Abdulrahman/AP)

The United Nations has secured insurance coverage for a ship-to-ship transfer of 1.1 million barrels of crude oil from a rusting tanker moored off the coast of war-torn Yemen.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) described the insurance as “a pivotal milestone” in a years-long effort to evacuate the cargo of the FSO Safer, which is at risk of rupture or exploding and causing an environmental catastrophe.