In March 2015, in the early days of the Yemeni Civil War, Safer fell into the hands of Houthi forces when they took control of the coastline surrounding her mooring.[1] In the following years, her structural condition deteriorated significantly, leading to the risk of a catastrophic hull breach or explosion of oil vapors that would typically be suppressed by inert gas generated onboard.[3][2] The ship is estimated to contain about 1.14 million barrels of oil valued at up to US$80 million, which became a point of contention in negotiations between the Houthi rebels and Yemeni government, both of which asserted claims to the cargo and vessel.[4][5] In early December 2019, Al Jazeera reported that oil had begun to leak from Safer,[5] though subsequent satellite imagery showed that the report had been inaccurate and there was no sign of oil outflow from the ship.[6]