Disaster feared as fire-hit cargo ship sinks off Sri Lanka coast

Ship carrying tonnes of chemicals is sinking, government says, in one of island nation’s worst-ever marine disasters.

A cargo ship carrying tonnes of chemicals is sinking off Sri Lanka’s west coast, the country’s government and navy said, in one of Sri Lanka’s worst-ever marine disasters. Salvage experts were attempting to tow the fire-stricken container ship that had been loaded with chemicals into the deep sea as the vessel started to sink off Sri Lanka’s main port, officials said on Wednesday. The Singapore-registered MV X-Press Pearl, was carrying 1,486 containers, including 25 tonnes of nitric acid, along with other chemicals and cosmetics that were loaded at the port of Hazira, India, on May 15.