Sources say the salvage of the stranded oil tanker in the Red Sea is expected in the coming days

Two sources with knowledge of the matter said Friday that a salvage operation is expected to begin in the coming days to recover a Greek-registered oil tanker that ran aground in the Red Sea after an attack by Houthi militants.

What was decided yesterday is an initial game plan, of the operation that will begin in 48 hours,” one of the sources said. A second source said the operation was likely to be complex, as the Houthis had rigged the ship with explosives.

At stake is the safe removal of a tanker carrying about 1 million barrels of crude oil that, if it were to leak, could cause an environmental disaster in an area that is particularly dangerous to enter. Efforts are being made to speed up the process, sources said.

Houthis say tugboats can tow away oil tanker attacked in Red Sea

Yemen’s Houthi militants have carried out multiple attacks, including planting bombs on the already disabled 900-foot (274.2-meter) Sounion. On Wednesday, the Iran-linked militants said they were sending salvage crews to bring the vessel, which has been on fire since Aug. 23, to safety.

According to the sources, the priority of the operation – whether to tow the ship to a port or transfer its cargo – depends on an inspection of the vessel.

“It is not an easy task to transfer the oil cargo to another ship, if it is loaded with explosives,” one of the sources said. “In any case, the ships of the (EU monitoring mission) ASPIDES will protect the ship and escort it to a safe port.”

Greece has also contacted Saudi Arabia, a key player in the region, to ask for help.

“Delta Tankers is doing everything it can to move the vessel (and its cargo). For safety reasons, we cannot comment further,” a spokesman for the Athens-based tanker operator said.

Earlier in the week, there were conflicting reports about whether the Sounion had started leaking its cargo. The EU’s ASPIDES team insisted that it had not, while the US later backtracked on its initial comments, saying that part of the leak was not from the cargo, but from the ship itself and the site where it had been struck.

If an oil spill occurs, it could be one of the largest ever caused by a ship.

“The Houthis have agreed to allow the towing because ultimately any environmental disaster would hit their region,” a shipping industry source said.

(Reporting by Renee Maltezou and Yannis Souliotis, additional reporting by Jonathan Saul; editing by Louise Heavens)

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