Negombo, Sri Lanka:
Sri Lanka’s criminal investigators started questioning the crew of a burning cargo ship Monday, as the Singapore-registered carrier smouldered for a 12th straight day in one of the island’s worst-ever marine ecological disasters.
A fire broke out aboard the MV X-Press Pearl, which was carrying 25 tonnes of nitric acid and a big quantity of plastic raw supplies, as it was about to enter Colombo harbour on May 20.
The intense flames, nevertheless burning at the rear of the 186-metre (610-foot) vessel, have destroyed substantially of the cargo, some of which has fallen into the Indian Ocean.
Tonnes of microplastic granules from the ship and its almost 1,500 containers have inundated Sri Lanka’s famed beaches, forcing a fishing ban and sparking fears of ecological devastation.
The Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA) chief Dharshani Lahandapura stated they had been nevertheless assessing the ecological harm, but believed it was the “worst ever in my lifetime”.
The Police Inspector-General has ordered the Criminal Investigation Department to investigate the fire as nicely as the big environmental harm brought on, an official stated.
“The 25-member crew have completed their quarantine and we are able to question them today,” a police spokesman stated.
MEPA stated the captain of the vessel had identified about a nitric acid leak on May 11, lengthy ahead of the vessel entered Sri Lankan waters.
Authorities are moving to sue the owners of the vessel and its crew and claim damages from insurers.
The fire has been below handle considering the fact that Sunday, officials stated, adding, even so, that the vessel continued to smoke on Monday and that higher monsoon winds had been fanning flames at the back of the ship.
They stated it was nevertheless also hot for them to try boarding the stricken ship.
International salvage firm SMIT is top efforts to douse the flames and is getting assisted by Sri Lanka’s navy and the Indian coast guard.
The 3-month-old ship was heading to Colombo from Gujarat, India.
It had previously visited Qatar and Dubai and was due to go to Malaysia and Singapore immediately after calling at Colombo.
()