Nine Sri Lankan ships and three Indian vessels have been working with international salvage experts to douse the eight-day-old inferno on the Singapore-registered X-Press Pearl. Sri Lanka’s Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA) has said it fears the vessel could break up and leak oil onto coastal beaches. The ship’s operator, X-Press Feeders of Singapore, confirmed they knew about the acid leak, but said attempts to leave the leaking container in India and Qatar had failed. Sri Lankan authorities have lodged a formal complaint with police ahead of initiating legal action against the ship’s captain. Sri Lankan soldiers were deployed on Thursday to clean Negombo beach as debris from eight containers that fell into the sea after the explosion washed ashore.

Source: The Nation May 27, 2021 17:15 UTC