Insurers Of Burnt Ship X-Press Pearl Make Interim Payment To Sri Lanka For Cleanup

The insurers of X-Press Pearl, which sank off Sri Lanka’s western coast after it was gutted in a huge fire two years back, have recently cleared an interim payment to Sri Lanka’s Government to cover the cost incurred by the Maritime Environment Protection Authority (abbreviated the MEPA) for beach clean-up operations and compensation for the fishermen impacted by the maritime disaster, mentioned Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, the Minister of Justice.

He added that the Sri Lankan Treasury has received USD 890,000 and INR 16 million as interim payment for the costs incurred by the MEPA and the compensation for impacted fisherfolks.

The amount has been provided as an interim payment to compensate the fishermen and for costs incurred by the MEPA for cleaning the country’s coastline owing to the X-Press Pearl fire incident.

Sri Lanka experienced one of the most distressing marine ecological disasters after the Singapore-flagged container vessel, three months after being successfully commissioned, caught on fire about 16 km off Colombo on 20 May 2021, transporting about 1,500 containers that included 25 tons of nitric acid.

Smoke and fire continued for almost two weeks. They resulted in a terrible spillage of impaired containers, plastic pellets, microplastics, chemicals, and other harmful substances into the pristine sea.

References: china.org.cn, english.news.cn, adaderana.lk

Insurers Of Burnt Ship X-Press Pearl Make Interim Payment To Sri Lanka For Cleanup appeared first on Marine Insight – The Maritime Industry Guide

Source: Maritime Shipping News