X-Press Pearl, a symbol of government incompetence

Exactly a year ago one of the worst maritime disasters of the century occurred in Sri Lankan waters. The sinking of the cargo vessel the X-Press Pearl was recorded as the single worst incident of plastic marine pollution in the world. This incident was no mere accident but a manmade disaster of corruption, incompetence and mismanagement.

The ship which was carrying hazardous material failed to report a fire on board when it approached the Colombo Port. It was later reported that it had been rejected entry by two other regional ports. Once the fire spread inside Sri Lankan territorial waters it was too late to contain. Sri Lanka did not possess the necessary maritime fire fighting equipment and had to seek support from neighbouring India. Despite this effort the ship eventually sank, leaking its cargo that contained 25 metric tons of nitric acid and some 50 billion plastic pellets.

Even after a year of cleaning up and millions of rupees spent on the coastal clean-up there are still pellets washing up on shore. In addition to the cleaning coasts, the damage done to the maritime eco-systems is immeasurable. Thousands of marine mammals including dolphins, rare sea turtles, and numerous species of fish died due to this disaster and the contamination of the sea food has not yet been determined. The salvage operations that were meant to remove the sunk vessel from Sri Lankan waters have also been delayed. It is reported that the hazardous cargo including the plastic pellets continue to pollute the waters surrounding Sri Lanka.

Bad enough that the Sri Lankan authorities allowed for a distressed ship with hazardous material to enter its territorial waters without consideration of the risks they have now abysmally failed to claim compensation for the damage caused from the owners of the vessel. An expert committee investigating the extent of damage to the country’s marine and coastal environment has now concluded the disaster to be the worst in terms of chemical and plastic pollution of the sea. The committee has submitted a report to the Attorney General’s Office for use in claiming compensation from the Singapore-based operators of the ship. To date however, Sri Lanka has only received a paltry $ 3.7 million as compensation. Even by conservative estimates the environmental damage is estimated to be in the range of $ 7 billion.

The X-Press Pearl incident has come to symbolise the incompetence and corruption of the Gotabaya Rajapaksa administration which has delivered the worst economic disaster in the country’s history. Just as the economy was ruined by incompetence and corruption, this preventable environmental disaster was also caused by vested interests. To date not a single official had been held accountable for allowing a potentially dangerous vessel which was already on fire, entering Sri Lankan territorial waters nor have the shipping agents who failed to disclose the true state of the vessel or the type of cargo it was carrying held financially or criminally responsible. 

The fact that the company that owns the ship or the local agents have got away without paying any meaningful compensation suggests that there are deals being done between the political authorities and the business entities involved. Meanwhile the Sri Lanka fishing and tourism industries have suffered enormously due to this disaster and there has hardly been any compensation for their losses.

Even a year later it is time for the Attorney General to pursue not only the compensation path but also to hold those who owed a duty of care to the public criminally responsible for their negligence. It is also unclear whether any lessons have been learnt from this disaster and whether necessary safety measures have been taken to prevent a recurrence.