Tons of plastic from a burning container ship off Colombo are threatening Sri Lankan beaches with the worst pollution in their history, a senior environmental official said on Saturday. Authorities have banned fishing in an 80 kilometer long area around the MV X-Press Pearl, a Singapore-registered container ship that has been on fire for nine days off Colombo, threatening to crash and cause environmental disaster by dumping hundreds of tons of fuel into the Indian Ocean.
But while an international operation is underway to try to avoid this oil spill, the nearby beaches are already crumbling under another pollution: millions of plastic granules coming from the cargo of the ship. According to the authorities, the ship was carrying 28 containers full of these polyethylene granules, intended for the packaging industry, eight of which fell into the water. And cleaning the beaches polluted by these tons of granules mixed with burnt oil and other debris washed up by the sea from the ship is a titanic job. “It is probably the most important pollution of beaches in our history,” said Dharshani Lahandapura, president of the Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA).
Threat of an oil spill
Besides the pollution on these tourist beaches, it also poses a serious threat to the shallow waters of this region known in particular for its crabs and giant shrimp. Scientists are also assessing the impact on the region’s mangroves, lagoons and marine life. The fire weakened the structure of the 186-meter-long ship, which could break and drain of its oil, said Sri Lanka’s Marine Environment Protection Authority (Mepa). In addition to the fuel in its tank, the ship is carrying 278 tonnes of bunker fuel and 50 tonnes of marine diesel.
Located 40 kilometers north of the capital, Negombo, a fishing region, is threatened by a potential oil spill and its beach, the country’s tourist hotspot, is now closed to the public. While the fire seems to be finally under control, much remains to be done to secure the ship. “There is still smoke and we can see some flames intermittently, but the ship is now stable,” Sri Lankan Navy spokesman Captain Indika of Sri Lanka told Agence France-Presse on Saturday. Silva.
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