ADEN, Yemen, July 28 (Xinhua) -- An oil leakage from a long-abandoned oil tanker in Yemen started damaging the country's nature reserve in the southern port city of Aden, a government official told Xinhua on Wednesday.
The private oil tanker Dia began to sink on July 18 off the southern coast of Yemen near the Port of Aden, leaving an oil slick of more than 20 km along the shore and causing damage to the Al-Huswah natural reserve, the only nature reserve in the city, the local government source said on condition of anonymity.
Last week, Mohammed Amzarba, CEO of the Aden Ports Administration, told the state-run Saba News Agency that the government was still having problems in refloating the Dia after multiple attempts.
The Dia has been abandoned since 2014 at Al-Buriqah, a dumping area west of Aden's main port, where a slew of other decrepit ships are left.
Rajih Ali, an environmental expert, told Xinhua that the oil leaking from the sinking tanker may cause contamination to the sea water and affect the lives of marine creatures. Enditem