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Satellite images obtained by Business Insider show the arduous task of freeing an oil tanker that ran aground in the Red Sea, about a month after Iran-backed Houthi rebels first attacked the vessel.
The European Union’s counter-Houthi mission said on Monday that the MV Sounion had been “safely towed to a safe area free of oil spill” under the mission’s protection, after previous attempts failed due to a variety of complications.
Operation Aspides stated It said it would continue to monitor the situation until “civilian parties” completed the salvage operation. It was unclear where the Greek-flagged Sounion was currently located.
Satellite images taken over the weekend by Maxar Technologies showed the rescue efforts underway, with European warships from the Aspides helping to secure the area, which has seen frequent Houthi attacks, clearing safe passage for the tugboats.
“The completion of this stage of the rescue operations is the result of a comprehensive approach and close cooperation between all parties committed to preventing an environmental disaster that would affect the entire region,” Aspides said on Monday.
Additional satellite images taken by Black Sky on Saturday showed other scenes of the salvage operation, including several unidentified vessels and Greek warships operating nearby, highlighting European security efforts.
The Houthis launched multiple attacks on the Sounion in late August, causing the tanker to lose power and become stranded at sea, forcing the crew to abandon ship.
The Sounion was carrying the equivalent of one million barrels of crude oil from Iraq to Greece when Houthi rebels boarded the tanker and detonated multiple explosives on board, setting it on fire and raising fears of a catastrophic oil spill.
The US has warned that unsustainable conditions at Sounion could lead to an environmental disaster far worse than the infamous 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster, one of the worst environmental disasters in US history.
A first attempt to salvage the Sounion in early September failed due to safety concerns.
Aspides’ operational commander, Maj. Gen. Vasilios Griparis, told BI earlier this month that any successful salvage mission would need to meet safety, technical, environmental and weather considerations.
He said at the time that among the challenges affecting the salvage operation were the fire on the Sounion and plans to transfer oil from the ship to another tanker.
The Houthis have attacked numerous ships with missiles and drones since Iran-backed rebels began attacking commercial shipping lanes in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden last fall.
U.S. and European navies have intercepted many of the Houthi weapons while others fail to reach their targets or are destroyed by Western forces in Yemen before they can be launched, although attacks have sometimes been successful.