Imagery from Sri Lanka Air Force reveals smoke nonetheless coming from smoldering stays of practically new container vessel
A nearly new containership that has been on hearth off Sri Lanka since May 20 partially sank in the present day, simply as salvage efforts had been seeming to indicate some progress.
As we reported earlier, the 2021-built, 2,700 TEU X-Press Pearl was at anchor, some 9 nautical miles outdoors the port of Colombo, when hearth broke out in a field within the deck stacks. The hearth is believed to have been brought on by a response to chemical substances within the containers. Efforts to cope with the fireplace have been ongoing since then.
Meantime air pollution from the ship has brought about intensive shoreline injury and has led to a suspension of some fisheries actions.
Today, the vessel operator, Singapore-based X-Press Feeders, stated: “despite salvors successfully boarding the vessel and attaching a tow wire, efforts to move the ship to deeper waters have failed, and the ships aft portion is now touching bottom at a depth of 21 meters. As of 1500 Sri Lanka time, the forward area of the vessel remains afloat with smoke coming out of Cargo Holds No 1 and 2.”
What occurs subsequent to the wreck stays to be seen, however the Sri Lankan authorities have launched a legal investigation into the casualty and native media report that police have been questioning crew members who had been evacuated from the ship after the fireplace broke out.
