Sri Lanka wants initial $40m for X-Press Pearl disaster
Tests being carried out to determine whether fuel is leaking from sunken containership.
By Marc Allen
The Sri Lankan government has made an initial compensation claim for $40m from the owners of the burned and sunken boxship, X-Press Pearl . The interim claim was sent to lawyers representing the ship’s Singapore-based owners, X-Press Feeders.
The claim is being made to cover the costs incurred in fighting the blaze that broke out on the vessel on 20th May, burning largely unchecked until 1st June. The 2,742-teu vessel was carrying more than 22 tonnes of nitric acid and other chemicals. An acid leak is thought to have started the blaze.
Although no leaking fuel has been detected from the partially sunken vessel, its cargo of plastic pellets and other contaminants have polluted a 150kn stretch of the Sri Lankan coastline and is the worst environmental disaster in the island nation’s history.
