No oil spill reported, but Sri Lanka braces for worst after X-Press Pearl sinks
by Malaka Rodrigo on 9 June 2021
Days after the ill-fated Singapore-flagged X-Press Pearl cargo ship erupted in flames, attempts to tow the vessel toward deep waters to reduce its impact failed as it began to sink off Sri Lanka’s western coast.
The newly commissioned freighter was carrying 300 metric tons of fuel oil in its tanks, but no oil leaks have been reported as of June 8, according to the Sri Lanka Navy.
But there’s already fallout from the disaster, with tons of grain-sized plastic pellets from the ship’s cargo washing up on beaches along the island’s western coast, posing a massive cleanup headache.
According to recent news reports, a burning container ship deposited tons of plastic debris onto Sri Lanka's beaches, provoking a widespread environmental disaster.
A burning container ship dumped tons of plastic debris onto Sri Lanka s beaches.
Sri Lankan Navy soldiers work to remove debris that washed ashore from a burning container ship.
(Image credit: Photo by ISHARA S. KODIKARA/AFP via Getty Images)
A burning container ship dumped tons of plastic debris onto Sri Lanka s beaches, prompting a widespread environmental disaster, according to recent news reports.
The ship, the X-Press Pearl, had sailed to Sri Lanka from India and was anchored near Colombo on May 20, when the crew first reported smoke coming from their cargo hold,
according to the X-Press Pearl Incident Information Center. On May 21, a fire started on deck and over the next week, the fire intensified and continued to spread. On May 24, the 13-person crew and 12-person firefighting crew were evacuated from the ship.