The remarkable story of how Yemen’s oil tanker disaster was averted by crowdfunding

When civil war broke out in 2015, a leaky oil tanker in the Red Sea became a crisis point - triggering a nail-biting series of events that saw special negotiations between the Houthi rebels and Saudi-backed government, and the UN begging the public for help - and getting it from a bunch of US schoolchildren

Since 1988, the hulking form of the FSO Safer has floated in the Red Sea, receiving crude oil from the bountiful Marib oilfields of Yemen. For 30 years, the ship was a critical piece of infrastructure in Yemen's booming oil industry, which at one time generated 63% of government revenue.

But the civil war broke out in 2014, and most of the Safer's crew were forced to abandon ship, leaving behind its cargo: 1.1m barrels of oil. Against mounting costs and security risks, maintaining the vessel became near impossible.