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Plastic pellets continue to be washed ashore islandwide
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Cost of ecological damages still being assessed
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Interim compensation of Rs. 720 m deposited in Treasury account
By Yumiko Perera
A little over a month has passed since the X-Press Pearl vessel caught on fire, approximately nine nautical miles off the Colombo Harbour, and a subsequent explosion onboard the vessel caused several containers to fall overboard, releasing hazardous chemicals as well as tonnes of plastic pellets into the waters and leading to the largest maritime disaster the country has ever witnessed.
Although it has been over a month since the fateful incident, plastic pellets known as nurdles and other debris from the doomed vessel continue to wash ashore. This has also resulted in an overwhelming amount of carcasses of sea turtles and other marine animals reportedly being washed ashore over the past few weeks.
However, according to environmentalists, the actual number of fatalities could be tenfold.
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Response experts assessing the pollutants at the Sarakkuwa beach in Negombo in early June. PHOTO PRADEEP DAMBARAGE[/caption]
Meanwhile, according to Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA) Chairperson Attorney-at-Law Darshani Lahandapura, Sri Lanka has received an interim claim of Rs. 720 million in the past week, and according to the Ministry of Justice, the sum had been deposited to the Treasury account.
Further elaborating that the funds would be used to make up for the direct costs incurred by the Government, owing to the disaster, Lahandapura reiterated that the ecological damage caused by the incident is still in the process of being assessed.
Speaking with The Sunday Morning, Lahandapura stated: “We have not received the full amount, but we have received the first interim claim of Rs. 720 million, and MEPA is looking at sending the second interim claim, which includes the costs incurred for the clean-up process. However, the environmental damage is still being assessed, and I feel that it would require more time to arrive at a final conclusion in this regard. In the meantime, we are constantly monitoring and mitigating the pollution.”
While several reports had been made over plastic pellets being washed up ashore on beaches across the island, according to Lahandapura, the levels of pollution and the debris that is washing up ashore, although continuing, has significantly declined.
“We get to see some sort of pollution daily, and we are deploying people for the clean-up process as well as to collect samples continuously as per our schedule. Although the level of plastic pollution and the debris washing up ashore isn’t too severe, as it had been initially, we are taking steps when we receive information about pollution. While we have arranged several cleaning mechanisms, our teams respond promptly,” she further noted.
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The X-Press Pearl sinking [/caption]
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka has called for the removal of the wreck. According to Lahandapura, the wreck removal would be done by the owners of the vessel.
“The owner of the vessel has appointed a caretaker to look after the vessel as well as to keep a lookout for further pollution during this interim period. It is the responsibility of the owner to commence the wreck removal. As far as I am aware, they have appointed survey companies and they have made assessments to ascertain when and how the wreck removal would commence,” Lahandapura stated.
Shedding light in this regard, renowned maritime lawyer Dr. Dan Malika Gunasekera, speaking to The Sunday Morning, stated: “Generally, when it comes to a wreck that is in our territorial waters, the ownership falls on the Director General (DG) of the Merchant Shipping Secretariat under the Merchant Shipping Act; thereby, the DG of Merchant Shipping has to appoint a receiver as per the Merchant Shipping Act. It is then up to our authorities to decide if we are going to do the wreck removal, or if we would allow the owner of the vessel or the operator to remove the wreck.”
According to Dr. Gunasekera, if the Sri Lankan Government is to go ahead with the wreck removal instead of handing over the responsibility to the owner of the vessel, the cost that would be incurred towards the wreck removal can be channelled to the operator or the owner of the vessel.
“If a salvor appointed by the shipowner would commence removing the wreck, the country wouldn’t have a financial burden. However, it is very important to make sure that the wreck removal will not bring about further damage to the ecosystem, as the wreck at present is blocking a very important sea lane for the country,” he elaborated.
On 6 June, Navy divers retrieved the vessel’s voice data recorder (VDR), but according to Dr. Gunasekera, the VDR may not be of much use to provide sufficient information as to what had taken place, given that the device can only accommodate messages and information up to about 14 hours. The VDR had been extracted from the wreck 12 days after the incident took place.
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An alarming number of marine animals washed ashore following the X-Press Pearl disaster [/caption]
Several attempts made by The Sunday Morning to get in touch with Merchant Shipping Secretariat DG Ajith Seneviratne proved futile.
Addressing the Parliament on Friday (9), Minister of Ports and Shipping Rohitha Abeygunwardena stated that as per the latest report released on 7 July by the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC), 176 turtles, four whales, and 20 dolphins have died. He said the DWC has instructed the Government Analyst’s Department to determine the causes of the deaths and report the findings.
Furthermore, the Ministry of Justice, in a recent press release with regard to the interim payment the country had received, stated that the fisherfolk who were affected by the disaster would be given priority and a large portion of the interim payment would be handed out to the fishing communities.
Reportedly, the Ministry of Fisheries has Rs. 7.35 million among 1,470 families of the fishing community in the Colombo District, Rs. 49 million to 8,063 families in the Gampaha District, and Rs. 975,000 to 195 families in the Kalutara District.
Furthermore, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on 9 July told the court that the communications data of the MV X-Press Pearl for the period from 1 May to 10 June 2021 had been deleted due to a technical glitch in the VTMS (Vessel Traffic Management System) database at the Colombo Port Naval Operations Room.
The court thereby directed the Government Analyst to conduct an investigation and report the findings.
Meanwhile, seven members from the local company which represents the MV X-Press Pearl were taken into custody by the CID and released on surety bail subsequently, and are to be produced before court, The Sunday Morning learnt.
Meanwhile, the hearing of the fundamental rights petition that had been filed in connection with the fire onboard the doomed vessel is to be taken up by the Supreme Court on 3 August, The Sunday Morning learnt.
The subcommittee that had been appointed to assess the economic impact of the incident is to present their findings soon, The Sunday Morning further learnt.
