Sri Lanka Navy and the Merchant Shipping Secretariat are due to hand over the Voyage Data Recorder (VDR) of the X-Press Pearl vessel to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). The CID will use the records stored on the VDR to continue with their ongoing investigation into the incident, the Police said. Marine experts from the Merchant Shipping Secretariat with the assistance of the Sri Lanka Navy recovered the VDR of MV X-Press Pearl yesterday (05). The Sri Lanka Ports Authority also stated that the VDR is an instrument safely installed on a ship to continuously record vital information related to the operation of a vessel, adding that VDR data can be used as vital information during an accident investigation. Meanwhile a media release from X-Press Feeders, operators of the X-Press Pearl stated yesterday (05) that ashore representatives of the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation (ITOPF) and Oil Spill Response are monitoring updates from the scene and remain on standby to be deployed in case of any reported spill.
