Sri Lanka orders Singapore shipowner to pay US$1 bn over marine disaster

Colombo: Sri Lanka s highest court on Thursday ordered aSingaporean shipping firm to pay US$1 billion in damages for causing the island s worst marine...

Colombo: Sri Lanka's highest court on Thursday ordered a Singaporean shipping firm to pay US$1 billion in damages for causing the island's worst marine pollution when its vessel sank four years ago.

The Supreme Court directed Express Feeders, the owners of the MV X-Press Pearl which sank off Colombo Port in June 2021 after a fire that raged for nearly two weeks, to pay the money within a year.

"The X-Press Pearl... shall make further compensation payments as may be directed by this court," the 361-page judgement read.

Environmentalists had brought the case to court, alleging that both government authorities and firm owners had failed to prevent the fire from becoming an unprecedented ecological disaster.

The shipping firm initially apologised and paid $7.85 million for the immediate cleanup and as compensation for fishermen who were deprived of their livelihoods following the catastrophic incident.