Sri Lankan authorities have begun the investigation into the fire on board a Singapore-flagged cargo ship near the Colombo beach on May 20 in the country’s worst-ever marine ecological disaster, and said statements would be recorded of one Indian and two Russian officials on duty in the vessel. The cargo vessel – MV ‘X-PRESS PEARL’-
Sri Lankan authorities have begun the investigation into the fire on board a Singapore-flagged cargo ship near the Colombo beach on May 20 in the country’s worst-ever marine ecological disaster, and said statements would be recorded of one Indian and two Russian officials on duty in the vessel. The cargo vessel – MV ‘X-PRESS PEARL’- was carrying a consignment of chemicals and raw materials for cosmetics from Hazira in Gujarat to Colombo Port on May 20 when it caught fire some 9.5 nautical miles away from the port of Colombo.
The fire-fighting effort on May 21 was assisted by the Indian Coast Guard vessels and an aircraft, in addition to the Sri Lanka Navy and Air Force. Apart from the 325 metric tonnes of fuel in its tanks, the vessel was loaded with 1,486 containers carrying about 25 tonnes of hazardous nitric acid.
The Criminal Investigation Department of the Sri Lankan police said while the Indian official is the deputy chief engineer of the ship, the two Russians are the captain and chief engineer respectively. The police’s criminal investigation department has begun an investigation into the fire on board X-PRESS PEARL, a container carrier engulfed in flames since May 20, police spokesperson Ajith Rohana told reporters.
“The CID visited the hotel to record statements from the captain, chief engineer and deputy chief engineer on the incident,” he added. Rohana said the deputy chief engineer was an Indian while the other two were Russians.
The dossiers on questioning would then be forwarded to the Attorney General for appropriate action, Rohana said. Rohana said that the rest of the 25 crew would also be questioned.
Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan Navy said that the fire had not been totally doused even after a joint effort from the Sri Lanka Navy, Air Force with Indian coast guard help. This has been described as Sri Lanka’s worst-ever marine ecological disaster.
The government imposed a fishing ban on the affected areas until shore line cleaning could be complete. “We will fully compensate the fishermen who have lost their livelihoods due to the fishing ban,” Kanchana Wijesekera, the state minister of fisheries, said.
Darshani Lahandapura, the chairperson of the Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA), said air water and soil samples are being collected to carry out the laboratory tests. This would lead to a compensation claim being submitted to the ship’s owners for which a time period of three months would be available.
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