By Eranda Wanigasekara
The island country Sri Lanka has been facing its worst environmental disaster in history after the fire broke out on 20th May 2021 on MV X-Press Pearl, a Singapore-registered ship that was headed to Singapore via Colombo. The Pearl, anchored near the Colombo Port was carrying tonnes of nitric acid, sodium hydroxide and other dangerous chemicals, more than three hundred tonnes of fuel as well as twenty eight containers of raw materials needed to make fertilizers, explosives, and plastic bags. The spilling of oil and micro plastics across the country’s pristine beaches has threatened the local flora and fauna by severely destroying marine life and sparking fears of an environmental catastrophe that could severely damage the country’s economy.
The Pearl incident has alarmed governments in the Indian Ocean Region as the Chinese-made, Singapore-registered vehicle was carrying items that the owners allegedly wanted to hide from the Sri Lankan authorities by preventing divers from attending to the sinking ship. This has also raised suspicion about the kind of chemicals that the vessel was actually carrying via the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean Region.
In another recent instance, a Chinese vessel MV BBC Naples which developed technical difficulties in Sri Lankan waters had hidden information about carrying radioactive nuclear material on board while seeking permission from the Sri Lankan authorities to enter the Hambantota Port, which is now under China’s control on a 99-year old debt-swap lease.
Shockingly in complete defiance to Sri Lanka’s sovereign rights the Chinese crew on board did not allow the Sri Lankan Navy and Coast Guard to carry out inspections on the vessel, putting the whole eco-system of the region at severe risk with fears of a possibly massive radioactive incident like the Chernobyl. These back-to-back two incidents have raised eyebrows and caused suspicion in Sri Lanka about China’s nefarious designs in the region.
The sinking of Pearl has also prompted questions about the quality of the vessels being manufactured at China’s Zhoushan Changhong International Shipyard Co. Ltd as Pearl was one amongst its newly commissioned fleet.
With the latest incident involving MV Pearl, The Centre for Environmental Justice, an environmental rights group, and fishermen’s activists have filed a fundamental rights petition in the Supreme Court in Colombo against the Sri Lankan government and the operators of the Pearl, over the environmental damage caused by the ship’s fire. Pearl’s owners have confirmed that the crew had been aware of the leak since 11th May 2021, but claimed they were denied permission to leave the ship on environmental security grounds by both Qatar and India before the fire broke out. Later, it was Sri Lanka that allowed the vessel to enter its waters but by then the ship caught fire causing massive environmental damage and pollution of the coastal areas.
Sri Lanka’s acceptance of the request to allow this ship which was carrying such dangerous and inflammable material into its waters has also led to widespread public anger with many activists demanding that the government make relevant laws and regulations to prevent such disasters in the future.
Following an emergency request from Sri Lanka, India deployed an aircraft /vessels to augment the joint navies rescue operations to tow the wreck into deeper water in an effort to minimise the pollution risk to the coastline but unfortunately the weather was barely supportive and instead became turbulent because of rough seas/monsoonal winds which hampered the successful conduct of the operation. In addition, the Indian Coast Guard was also kept on standby for immediate assistance towards aerial surveillance and appropriate pollution response. It is important to remember that in the year 2020 too, when there was a fire on board an oil tanker off the Sri Lankan coast, the same was brought under control with India’s help. The Panama-registered tanker MT New Diamond, was carrying several thousand tonnes of crude oil from Kuwait to India and caught fire enroute raising concerns within Sri Lanka over a possible oil spill which was effectively averted.
In fact, considering Sri Lanka’s chequered history with ships and oil spills, a UN team of oil spill and chemical experts supported by the European Union has been working in Sri Lanka to assess the impact of such incidents on the environment and to produce key findings and recommendations about short-term response measures and long-term recovery planning. The team is also providing technical advisory support to the Sri Lankan experts on oil spill contingency planning, clean-up operations and environmental impact assessment, drawing on international best practices and lessons learned from similar such incidents across the globe.
Moreover, the UK Government is also providing marine pollution expertise to Sri Lanka on plastic pollution monitoring and responses to the impact of such events on the marine, coastal habitats including mangroves, sea grass & coral reefs as well as local communities & livelihoods. Experts from the country have also been supporting clean-up and preventive work that would help in capacity building in the long-term. Other European countries such as Netherlands and Belgium have also helped in surveying the ship and sending vital equipment to contain the fire. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s marine protection agency informed that thousands of Navy personnel have been deployed on a clean-up operation with bulldozers to remove the thick layer of plastic and chemical waste that has begun coating the shores.
Environmentalists are however worried that the sinking of the ship has posed a dangerous scenario as hundreds of tonnes of oil from the fuel tanks could leak into the sea, devastating nearby marine life and impacting not just livelihood but even lives of those living in this region. The toxic micro-plastics, chemicals, the nitric acid and the oil in the ship have the potential to destroy the sea bed & the marine life associated with it. The plastic pellets used to make plastic products are a big source of ocean pollution as they remain buoyant and move freely thereby easily inundating rivers and mangroves. Due to their small size, these pellets can also be mistakenly construed as food by birds, turtles, fish and other wildlife, whereas consuming them could be extremely deadly. If these animals are eaten by their predators these toxic plastics move up the food chain eventually reaching humans. The pellets could also threaten nesting turtles on the beaches not merely in terms of consumption but also by affecting the temperature on the beach which is impacted by widespread plastic and its destruction.
In the case of Sri Lanka then, it is feared that the chemical spill has already caused severe damage to the country’s coastline, including the popular tourist resorts of Negombo and Kalutara, with beaches becoming thickly coated in micro plastics and an oil slick which is clearly visible in an otherwise azure ocean. Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Fisheries has in fact confirmed that emergency measures were in place to protect the Negombo lagoon & surrounding areas and fishing from Panadura to Negombo has been suspended. With the impact on local livelihoods, the regional fishing union fears that the crisis could be a death blow for the industry. The fishing community is the most affected because people are now refraining from buying fish. The local people have also been warned by the authorities not to touch any of the debris as it could be highly toxic and fishing has been categorically banned within a 50-mile radius of the scene.
The country’s Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA) suspects that the spill has damaged coral reefs, lagoons, mangroves and other ecosystems and could take decades to recover. MEPA is also in the process of pursuing compensation from the ship’s owners for both the costs of firefighting as well as the environmental damage and disrepute the entire fiasco has brought to the country. As the trial begins in the Sri Lankan Court, the world waits with bated breath to see the truths being revealed.
This accident in Sri Lanka also helps highlight an existential issue that plastic isn’t a problem on its own, but part of a wider system of toxic materials and fossil fuels which when piped, shipped or flown around the world risk leakage, spillage and a possible environmental disaster.
The recent disaster underlines the need for Sri Lanka as a country to strengthen its capacity to respond to such incidents that threaten its very existence as an independent nation capable of protecting its territories & its people.