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The UN Development Program (UNDP) acquired the crude carrier Nautica in March to evacuate over a million barrels of oil from the troubled FSO Safer

A supertanker bought by the United Nations to remove oil from a ship abandoned off war-ravaged Yemen's coast departed China on Thursday, the UN announced, calling it a "significant" step in efforts to prevent a major spill.The UN Development Program (UNDP) had in March purchased the crude carrier Nautica to remove more than a million barrels of oil from the beleaguered FSO Safer.It was an unusual move for the agency, and was hailed as a breakthrough in efforts to avert a potentially catastrophic oil spill.

The vessel was abandoned as the Middle Eastern country descended into civil war in 2015 and is now starting to fall apart. If the tanker explodes, it could cause an environmental disaster in the Red Sea.

A super tanker anchored off the coast of Yemen and containing more than a million barrels of oil is "likely to sink or explode at any moment", unleashing an environmental and humanitarian disaster, a United Nations official has told Sky News.

The 'FS0 Safer' was abandoned in the Red Sea at the outbreak of the civil war