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43 containers of X-Press Pearl debris stored in salvage yard 

25 Feb 2022

By Pamodi Waravita  The Central Environmental Authority (CEA) said yesterday (24) that 43 open containers full of debris from the MV X-Press Pearl maritime disaster are presently stored at the salvage yard in Wattala. “We are currently storing all the debris from the MV X-Press Pearl vessel at the Wattala yard and have now collected almost 43 open containers of debris. Afterwards, the debris will be segregated by type (e.g. metal) in an enclosed system,” CEA officials told The Morning yesterday.  According to the officials, the final disposal of the debris will take place depending on each material.  “If it is not environmentally sound to dispose of any of the collected debris, we will export it. The export process will also take place according to the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal,” they added.  The Merchant Shipping Secretariat said earlier this week that the debris removal process is taking place in two steps. “We have to first remove the debris in the deep waters. This is almost finished. The National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency (NARA) is currently conducting a survey on how to remove the debris in the shallow waters, and we believe that the debris removal process will be completed before April this year, that is, before the monsoon season begins,” said the Merchant Shipping Secretariat.  The removal of the MV X-Press Pearl wreck from Sri Lankan waters commenced last month, and is expected to last until September, after work restarts following the anticipated April monsoon season. The Shanghai Salvage company was selected through an open tender process for the wreck removal process. Two cranes are currently positioned on either side of the shipwreck, and are due to raise the wreck to the surface of the ocean using 63 metal ropes. The ship will be halved in two before it is removed. In what is termed as the “country’s largest marine environment disaster,” the MV X-Press Pearl ship caught fire on 20 May 2021, approximately nine nautical miles away from the Colombo Harbour. A subsequent explosion on 24 May led to the fire spreading and a number of containers aboard it falling into the sea, thus releasing pollutants including plastic pellets into the water. Since then, debris and deceased marine life have washed up on the country’s Western coastline, heavily affecting both the fisheries industry and the country’s marine environment. Reportedly, the ship had carried in its cargo about 25 tonnes of nitric acid, 300 metric tonnes (MTs) of bunker oil and 78 MTs of plastic pellets or nurdles.


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