In order to prevent oil spill disaster in the Red Sea, the United Nations has launched a crowd-funding campaign for an operation intended to prevent an ageing Yemeni oil tanker from unleashing a potential catastrophe.
UN's humanitarian coordinator for Yemen David Gressly told an online press briefing "We hope to raise $5 million by the end of June."
He took to Twitter and wrote, "Today I launched a @UN crowdfunding campaign because we urgently need funds to start the emergency operation before it is too late."
Officials say a fragile ceasefire in Yemen's civil war is a chance to move 1 million barrels of crude off a decrepit oil tanker in the Red Sea, but they need cash.
Saudi Arabia on Sunday pledged $10 million to help prevent an ageing Yemeni oil tanker from unleashing a potentially catastrophic spill in the Red Sea bordering its waters.
The funding is needed to drain a stranded oil tanker off the coast of Yemen. The UN has warned the vessel could spill four times more oil than the Exxon Valdez disaster off Alaska in 1989.