[ad_1]
Sri Lankan Navy personnel remove debris from the MV X-Press Pearl in Colombo.
More dead turtles washed up on Sri Lanka’s beaches on Friday, underlining the environmental scourge caused by the fire of a container ship off the coast of the country.
The Singapore-registered MV X-Press Pearl was carrying hundreds of tons of chemicals and plastics when it caught fire last month, before burning for two weeks. Since June 2, her wreck has been partially submerged off the capital Colombo.
Wildlife officials said the carcass of an olive ridley species listed as threatened by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature was found in the tourist resort area of Bentara, 80 kilometers (50 miles) away. south of Colombo.
Another was seen at a beach in Induruwa, just south of Bentara, bringing the number found in the southern tourist belt to 15, an official said.
“We see a clear link to the ship and the death of the turtles,” the senior wildlife official for the south of the island told AFP on condition of anonymity.
He said disaster struck at the height of turtle mating season.
It is not uncommon for some turtles to choke and die during mating season, but deaths this year have been “10 to 20 times higher than last year,” he said.
Local media said more than 50 turtles and eight dolphins have been found dead across the island since the ship caught fire on May 20.
A Sri Lankan fishing boat operates against the backdrop of the MV X-Press Pearl, which lies partially submerged in the shallow seas off Colombo. Wildlife officials removed the carcass of a sea turtle washed up on Galle Face beach in Colombo last week.
As the fire spread, two explosions dumped several containers in the Indian Ocean, along with plastic pellets that covered nearby beaches.
The country’s top environmental official, Anil Jasinghe, on Thursday linked the deaths to the X-Press Pearl, but said he was still awaiting final autopsy reports.
About 1,200 tons of plastic pellets and other debris collected from beaches are stored in 45 shipping containers, officials said.
Sri Lanka is seeking $ 40 million in damages from the ship’s operator, X-Press Feeders.
Environmentalists are suing the government and X-Press Feeders for allegedly failing to prevent what they called Sri Lanka’s worst marine environmental disaster, while Sri Lankan police have launched a criminal investigation against the ship’s captain, the chief engineer and the chief officer.
Dolphins and turtles killed by fire-ravaged ship: Sri Lanka
AFP 2021
Quote: Wildlife deaths blamed on Sri Lanka ship disaster (2021, June 18) retrieved June 18, 2021 from https://phys.org/news/2021-06-wildlife-deaths -blamed-ship-disaster.html
This document is subject to copyright. Other than fair use for private study or research purposes, no part may be reproduced without written permission. The content is provided for information only.
[ad_2]
picture credit