NEW YORK — The members of the United Nations Security Council reiterated Houthi responsibility for the situation and their extreme concern at the growing risk that the Safer oil tanker could rupture or explode, causing an environmental, economic, maritime and humanitarian catastrophe for Yemen and the region. Following a briefing from top UN officials, the members of the UN Security Council stressed the need to urgently resolve outstanding issues and called on the Iran-backed Houthi militia to facilitate unconditional and safe access for UN experts to conduct a comprehensive and impartial assessment and initial repair mission, without further delay, ensuring close cooperation with the United Nations. Earlier in the day, Inger Andersen, executive director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), and Reena Ghelani, director for Operations and Advocacy in the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), briefed the Security Council about the increasing environmental and humanitarian risks posed by the decaying Safer oil tanker located in the Houthi controlled territory of Yemen. “We still do not know the exact condition of the vessel, nor what the best solution would be to deal with 1.1 million barrels of oil in an aging tanker located in an environmentally sensitive area of the Red Sea,” said Andersen. The UNEP chief painted a grim picture of the dire consequences of an oil leak, from health to the economy, impacting up to 670,000 livelihoods. An oil leak could force the vital Hodeidah port to close, limiting food and fuel imports for two to three weeks and block 50 percent of fishing grounds, “with an estimate economic cost of around $350 million over five years”, she said. “The Red Sea is one of the planet"s most important repositories of biodiversity”, hosting internationally important marine mammals, sea turtles, sea birds and many other species, she continued, adding that coastal marine environments represent 86 percent of the country’s mangrove cover. And an oil spill would impact neighboring countries on the Red Sea, as well as one of the world’s busiest commercial routes, she said. Moreover, a fire or an explosion could leave some 4.8 million Yemenis and 350,000 Saudis exposed to harmful levels of pollution within 24-36 hours. “About one million internally displaced people who live in Yemen could be covered by this smoke plume”, triggering potentially severe health impacts in vulnerable populations, the UNEP chief spelled out. Meanwhile, Reena Ghelani warned the UNSC members, saying there was “a good chance” that flammable gases are building up inside the tanker. But because the UN has never been allowed to visit the site, it does not know exactly what the conditions are like onboard, making it impossible to say in assessing the work that can safely be performed. “That is why the main purpose of the UN’s mission has always been to assess the vessel’s conditions,” reminded Ghelani, adding that experts must impartially verify the evidence and evaluate the options to resolve the problem “once and for all”. She stressed that the UN has no preference on how the situation is ultimately solved, just so long as “it is done safely”. — Agencies