Ishara S. Kodikara / AFP via Getty Images
Originally published on June 2, 2021 1:21 pm
A cargo ship carrying chemicals and plastic pellets has been burning off the coast of Sri Lanka for nearly two weeks. Now, efforts to tow the ship to deeper waters have failed – and the boat sinking looks increasingly likely.
The ship, the X-Press Pearl, was carrying 1,486 containers. Eighty-one of those were dangerous goods containers, including 25 tons of nitric acid. At least one container has leaked nitric acid.
Infrared footage over the weekend showed that the fire has mostly died out.
X-Press Feeders, the cargo ship company, said Wednesday that it regret[s] to report that despite salvors successfully boarding the vessel and attaching a tow wire, efforts to move the ship to deeper waters have failed. The ship s stern is now touching bottom, the company said.
Sri Lanka Faces An Environmental Disaster As A Ship Full Of Chemicals Starts Sinking
Wednesday, June 2, 2021
Smoke billows from the Singapore-registered container ship X-Press Pearl on Wednesday. The ship carries 81 dangerous goods containers, including 25 tons of nitric acid, some of which has already leaked.
Ishara S. Kodikara / AFP via Getty Images
A cargo ship carrying chemicals and plastic pellets has been burning off the coast of Sri Lanka for nearly two weeks. Now, efforts to tow the ship to deeper waters have failed – and the boat sinking looks increasingly likely.
The ship, the X-Press Pearl, was carrying 1,486 containers. Eighty-one of those were dangerous goods containers, including 25 tons of nitric acid. At least one container has leaked nitric acid.
A chemical-laden cargo ship that burned for 13 days off the coast of Sri Lanka has now sunk, along with hundreds of tons of oil in fuel tanks, in what CNN calls "one of.
Beaches are coated with plastic pellets, and a container full of nitric acid has leaked. Sri Lankan authorities are now making preparations for an oil spill.