Family Farming Knowledge Platform

Sri Lanka: The Rage of a Perfect Storm

Months after a container ship carrying toxic chemicals caught fire off the west coast of Sri Lanka, fisherfolk still suffer from the dreadful aftereffects of the country’s worst marine ecological disaster. A 186-m-long container ship called X-Press Pearl, registered in Singapore, arrived in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on the night of 19 May 2021, carrying 1,486 containers. The next day, it was reported that the ship caught fire. At that time, it was located 9.5 nautical miles northwest of the Colombo port. Five days later, a large explosion occurred inside the vessel; by late afternoon, containers were dropping off the vessel into the sea. On 2 June, the ship finally sank.

Title of publication: Samudra Report
:
Issue: 87
ISSN: 0973-1121
Page range: 11-13
:
:
:
:
:
Author: Oscar Amarasinghem
:
Organization: The International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF)
:
Year: 2022
:
Country/ies: Sri Lanka
:
Type: Journal article
Content language: English
:

Share this page