Plastics from Burning Ship Cover Sri Lanka Beach
Voice of America
COLOMBO, SRI LANKA - Tons of charred plastic pellets from a burning container ship washed ashore near Sri Lanka's capital Friday as an international effort to salvage the vessel dragged into a ninth day.
Thick black smoke rose from the Singapore-registered MV X-Press Pearl, anchored just outside Colombo harbor, heightening fears that it could break up spilling its 278 tons of bunker oil. Navy personnel in hazmat suits were sent to clean millions of plastic granules mixed with burned oil and other residue that covered Negombo beach, 40 kilometers north of the capital. The plastic-covered beach, normally a draw for tourists and known as a fishing center, was declared off limits. The smoking container ship could be seen on the horizon.Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah on May 27, 2024. Fire rages following an Israeli strike on an area designated for displaced Palestinians, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, in this still picture taken from a video, May 26, 2024. Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah on May 27, 2024. A member of the bomb squad of the Israeli police collects debris after a rocket fired by Palestinian militants struck in the Israeli city of Herzliya on May 26, 2024.
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, right, and Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, left, leave a podium after marking Independence Day in Tbilisi, Georgia, May 26, 2024. Demonstrators with Georgian national and EU flags rally during an opposition protest against a foreign influence bill as they mark their country's Independence Day, in the center of in Tbilisi, Georgia, May 26, 2024.