SHIROMI ABEYSINGHE AND ARIYARATNE GANEGODA
COLOMBO : Environmentalist Dr. Ajantha Perera yesterday questioned why the MV X-Press Pearl vessel that was refused entry into the waters of India and Qatar was given permission by local authorities to enter Sri Lankan waters.
The ship is now engulfed in fire and is in distress off the coast of Colombo. “A ship that arrived in our coastal area is on fire. At this point, about 25 containers of nitrogen in the ship have got burned and mixed with sea water.
Other material including oil and plastic is being washed ashore. International news outlets have reported that the ship is carrying acids which are not properly packed. Unfortunately this ship which was rejected entry by countries like India and Qatar but has arrived in our waters. In order to enter our maritime waters, the authorities of the country have to give permission. It is a question of how a ship carrying such hazardous material came to our sea area” she questioned.
Perera said when nitric acid gets mixed with seawater it would have a harmful impact on all marine life forms.
“No matter how much compensation we receive, it is not enough to restore the damage to our environment. The Environment Ministry should act more responsibly. Procurement of equipment and training of Navy and Maritime Authority officials should be done to prevent such disasters in future” she added.
X-Press Feeders, operators of the container ship ‘X-Press Pearl’ issuing a statement yesterday said reports that the vessel was denied entry into Hazira Port in India and Hamad Port in Qatar are incorrect.
“The ship underwent discharge and loading operations in both ports before continuing on its planned journey to Colombo,” X-Press Feeders said in a statement.
It also said that applications had been made to both ports to offload a container that was leaking nitric acid, but the advice given was there were no specialist facilities or expertise immediately available to deal with the leaking acid.
“We can confirm that firefighting operations to extinguish the blaze aboard the vessel have continued through today despite the ongoing adverse weather conditions”.
Firefighting tugs have constantly been spraying and misting the stricken vessel with support from the Sri Lankan Navy and Indian Coastguard, who remain on scene. The ship remains at anchor off Colombo port.
The crew member who was transferred to a special facility in a military hospital after testing positive for COVID-19 remains asymptomatic and is recovering from a leg injury sustained during his evacuation from the vessel. A second injured crew member continues to recover from his injuries in a local hospital. All other crew members who remain in a Colombo quarantine facility are in good health and are in contact with their families, the operators of the ship further said.(CDN)
