A derelict oil tanker off the coast of Yemen had more than a million barrels of crude sitting around, on the verge of leaching into the Red Sea, until one determined American orchestrated a last-ditch cleanup operation.

Just completed this summer, the salvage operation probably prevented a major environmental catastrophe because the tanker, FSO Safer, was 47 years-old and had serious mechanical and structural risks.

The diplomat working for the United Nations became a true hero after crowdfunding the many millions of dollars needed for the sea-saving work.

David Gressly took advantage of a truce between warring factions in Yemen, where the FSO Safer was abandoned off shore in 2015 when war broke out. The recent truce opened a window of opportunity to do something about this environmental ticking time bomb hanging over the region.

The oil technically belongs to the Yemen state—but who represents that country isn't yet settled. After a peace agreement was reached in May of 2022, the race was on for Gressly to spearhead a hugely-ambitious fundraiser to find $144 million to buy a new tanker and pay a salvage company to drain the oil and bring the massive bulker to shore.

He knew that the amount of oil was greater—by far—than the barrels spilled in the Exxon Valdez tragedy, so Gressly, the UN Resident Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, continued his dogged search for funding over many months.

"If we had a major oil spill there, we would have probably raised a billion dollars in a month—because there are mechanisms for governments to do just that," Gressly told the Guardian.

After government and private sector donations weren't adding up, Gressly opened the fundraising to citizens of the world: anyone with a dollar to spare was invited to contribute to this admittedly massive goal.

But, by September 2022 the campaign had gathered $75 million—more than half of the required amount—an astonishing return driven by individuals, from Yemeni businessmen to schoolchildren in the US. When the campaign reached $121 million in July this year, the emergency humanitarian fund of the UN provided a low-interest loan to cover the rest.

From there, work was turned over to Boskalis, a salvage company that finished the cleanup operation on August 11th after a brand new oil tanker, dubbed the MT Yemen, weighed anchor alongside Safer to siphon off the last of her oil before the old girl was towed to Yemen's shore for scuppering.

Because of his lifesaving work in Yemen, Gressly is considering establishing contingency plans for future situations of this sort—especially since it was revealed upon closer examination that Safer had only 12 to 18 months before crumbling into the sea.

WATCH an animation of the whole salvage operation below…

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