• MEPA says steps taken to address damage caused

Coastal areas of eight districts across four provinces have been contaminated following the sinking of the Liberia-flagged container ship MSC ELSA 3 off the coast of Kerala, India, in May, the Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA) acknowledged yesterday (20).

Speaking to The Daily Morning yesterday (20), MEPA General Manager A. J. M. Gunasekara said that coastal areas in eight districts across three provinces have been affected by the incident. “Two ships were damaged in the sea near Kerala recently. A ship called MV Wan Hai 503 caught fire but did not sink. Later, a container ship named MSC ELSA 3 sank off the coast of Kerala, India. It was carrying nearly 640 containers. Indian authorities initially said there would be no threat to our coastal areas but warned of possible risks depending on changes in sea currents. Recently, we found contamination near Delft Island, Kilinochchi, and Mannar,” he said.

He added that three districts in the Northern Province, three in the Western Province, one in the Northwestern Province, and one in the Southern Province have been contaminated. He also mentioned that the authorities are currently working to take the necessary steps to address the damage caused by the incident, stressing that priority has been given to minimising the harm done to the marine environment. Local environmental groups and coastal residents had flagged plastic nurdles washing ashore for several weeks.

The revelations come nearly four years after Sri Lanka’s worse recorded marine pollution incident, which occurred in May 2021, when the Singaporean flagged MV X-Press Pearl caught fire off the coast of Colombo, sinking and polluting coastal waters with plastic nurdles and hazardous chemicals.

Recently, the Liberia-flagged vessel MSC ELSA 3, which was carrying 640 containers – including 13 with hazardous cargo – along with almost 5 metric tonnes of diesel and 367 metric tonnes of furnace oil, sank off the coast of Kerala, Southern India, on 25 May. Weeks later, on 7 June, the Singapore-flagged container ship MV Wan Hai 503 caught fire following multiple explosions, approximately 88 nautical miles off the coast of Kerala. This marked the second such incident in recent months.

Deputy Minister of Environment Anton Jayakody was unavailable for comment.

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