Oil spill fears as fire-hit S’pore cargo ship sinks off Sri Lanka

dpa Colombo A Singaporean container ship destroyed in a fire that was due to be towed deep out to sea has started sinking close to the country’s main por...

dpa Colombo A Singaporean container ship destroyed in a fire that was due to be towed deep out to sea has started sinking close to the country’s main port, sparking fears of a possible oil spill, a government minister said on Wednesday.Acting on a directive from President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Sri Lankan navy officials boarded the MV X-Press Pearl on Wednesday to make arrangements to tow the vessel with the assistance of a salvage team, but the rear part of vessel has started sinking, Minister for Ports and Shipping Rohitha Abeygunawardena told a news conference.“We now fear there could be an oil spill and are taking necessary precautions to minimize the damage,” he said.He said plans to tow the ship has been abandoned while the navy, salvage team and Indian coastguard were closely monitoring the situation.Earlier Rajapaksa was informed there was a strong possibility the ship could sink 10 nautical miles (18.5 kilometres) off the Colombo port, along with partially burnt containers which include some chemicals.There are 1,486 containers on the ship, and the cargo includes 25 tonnes of nitric acid and a large stock of microplastic granules used for production of plastic products.The ship was travelling from the Indian port of Hazira to Singapore via Colombo when it reported the fire on May 20.The fire was extinguished on Tuesday after efforts by the Navy and Indian coastguard, but more than 30 containers had already fallen overboard.Meanwhile, security forces were continuing their efforts to clean up beaches polluted by microplastic granules and debris from the ship.A ban on fishing over a 50-kilometre stretch of the sea around the ill-fated ship remained in place.Police obtained a court order preventing the ship’s captain and two other officers from the ship from leaving the country pending further investigations.