The Yemeni Petroleum Company (YPC) in Sana’a on Wednesday announced that the ship Harvest, loaded with 29,728 tons of diesel, has left the detention area to conduct necessary maintenance work.
اكثر من 6 أشهر ولا تزال سفينة #الديزل الإنسانية "هارفيست" الخاصة بالاستهلاك العام محتجزة قبالة سواحل #جيزان رغم تفتيشها وحصولها على التصاريح الأممية نحمل قوى تحالف العدوان المسؤولية الكاملة عن الكارثة الإنسانية القادمة على أهم القطاعات وهو القطاع الصحي بسبب النقص الحاد في الوقود. pic.twitter.com/ETNBHWI8K0
— عصام المتوكل (@YPCSpokesperson) February 20, 2022
The company confirmed, in a tweet, that the maintenance work of the ship came to avoid further technical malfunctions resulting from its forced detention for more than half a year after it was seized by Saudi-led coalition piracy.
The coalition prevented the ship from reaching the port of Hodeida despite the vessel having past an inspection in Djibouti and obtained the authorisation of the United Nations Verification and Inspection Mechanism (UNVIM) in August 2021, the company explained.
In turn, the spokesman for the oil company, Issam al-Mutawakel, confirmed in a press statement this evening that the efforts to bring the ship Harvest into Hodeidah port have failed, and therefore it was forced to leave for maintenance.
He stated that four fuel ships are still being held by the coalition despite holding UN permits.
Al-Mutawakel added that the World Health Organisation has stopped supplying the public health sector in Yemen with oil derivatives, causing them to facs a catastrophic situation.
“We contacted the United Nations and international organisations and informed them of the dangerous situation due to the scarcity of oil derivatives, and they did not respond.”
