By Helen Regan and Chandler Thornton, CNN
For almost two weeks, a thick, black smudge stained the sky off Sri Lanka’s western coast smoke from a burning container ship nine nautical miles out to sea.
The Singapore-flagged X-Press Pearl caught fire on May 20 en route to Colombo carrying 350 metric tons of oil in its tanks and at least 81 containers of “dangerous goods,” including nitric acid a highly toxic chemical used to make fertilizers.
As the Sri Lankan navy and coast guard teams fought to douse the flames, the inferno tore through the ship’s cargo, releasing a cocktail of hazardous chemicals into the air and sea, prompting authorities to issue a toxic rain alert, and compounding fears of an oil spill.
Sri-lanka
Australia
India
St-helena-island
New-south-wales
Negombo
Western
Colombo
Maldives
Durban
Kwazulu-natal
South-africa