Following the sinking incident of the MV X-press Pearl off Sri Lanka’s west coast, authorities informed of wildlife harm.
In fact, dozens of turtles and dolphins were killed by intense heat and chemical poisoning from a container ship that burned for almost two weeks off Sri Lanka.
To remind, the Singapore-registered MV X-Press Pearl has been partially submerged off the island nation’s coast since early June after an onboard blaze released tonnes of plastic raw materials that swamped local beaches.
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Wildlife officials said 48 dead turtles and eight dolphins, as well as many small fish, had washed up on the country’s western and southern beaches in recent weeks.
Authorities were also probing the death of a 30-foot (nine-metre) blue whale off the Jaffna peninsula about 400 kilometres (250 miles) north of Colombo.
The burnt out ship was known to be carrying 81 containers of hazardous chemicals, including 25 tonnes of nitric acid, when it caught fire.
Officials have said about 1,200 tonnes of plastic pellets and other debris scooped from beaches are being stored in 45 shipping containers.
Concluding, they have also warned of the impact of microplastic pollution from the country’s “worst marine disaster”.
