News
X-Press Pearl catastrophe: Sleuths look for clues in communications
- Captain, chief engineer and second engineer to be produced in court tomorrow
- Ship owner expresses ‘regret and apologies’ for the harm caused to Lanka and its people
- No oil leak up until last afternoon as the vessel with caustic cargo gradually sinks in Lankan waters
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) yesterday questioned the local agent representing the operator of MV X-Press Pearl on the circumstances surrounding the fire aboard the vessel and the failure to inform Sri Lankan authorities about an acid leak in one of the containers on board until the vessel lay at anchorage in the outer harbour of Colombo Port.
The questioning came as investigators launched an extensive probe into the communications that the X-Press Pearl’s Captain conducted with the vessel’s operator, local agent and other harbours in the region in the days leading up to the fire that gutted the ship.
Investigators are focusing on communications after it emerged that the Singapore flagged vessel’s crew had known about the nitric acid leaking from one of the containers since at least May 11 — more than a week before the fateful fire that left it a burning hulk now partially sunk off the Sri Lankan coast.
A senior official of Sea Consortium Lanka (Pvt) Ltd., the ship’s local agent, declined to comment yesterday on allegations that the vessel had withheld information regarding the leakage of nitric acid from the container.
However, speaking to Singapore-based Channel News Asia, the ship owning company X-Press Feeders’ Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Shmuel Yoskovitz on Thursday expressed his “deep regret and apologies” to Sri Lanka for the harm the incident has caused, both to people’s livelihoods and the country’s environment.
Mr Yoskovitz, though, maintained that it was still hard to assess whether it was the leaking container that had caused the fire. “There were many commodities on board the vessel and there was one container leaking. That could have been the most probable cause but we are still not 100% sure and I would like to emphasise this,” he said.
CID detectives have already recorded statements from the ship’s Captain and Chief Engineer — both Russian nationals — and the Second Engineer, an Indian national, regarding the events leading up to and after the fire. Named as suspects, they were to be produced in the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court tomorrow (7). The court had earlier prohibited them from leaving the country and the Controller General of Immigration and Emigration was ordered to impound their passports.
Deputy Solicitor General Madhawa Tennakoon, who appeared for the Attorney General along with Senior State Counsel Fazly Razeek and State Counsel Lahiru Jayamanne, told Colombo Additional Magistrate Priyantha Liyanage this week that action was being pursued against the suspects under the Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA) Act, the Criminal Procedure Code and the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance.
Taking the submissions into consideration, the Additional Magistrate issued notice on the three suspects to appear in court tomorrow. He also ordered the ship’s local agent, Sea Consortium Lanka (Pvt) Ltd. to provide all necessary assistance required by the CID to conduct its investigation. An order was also issued to the Sri Lanka Navy to locate the ship’s Voyage Data Recorder (VDR) and hand it over to the CID. The court also ordered the Navy to facilitate the movement of CID officers and the Government Analyst’s Department to visit the location of the vessel to conduct investigations.
A 14-member investigation team comprising CID officers, officials from the Government Analyst’s Department and other state agencies were transported to the vessel’s location on Friday by the navy and the coast guard.
As of yesterday, the ship’s aft portion remains on the seabed at a depth of about 21 metres, and the front section continues to settle down slowly. Officials said there had been no oil leak up until last afternoon.
“Salvors were able to retrieve the anchor and remain on scene to deal with any possible debris supported by the Sri Lankan Navy and the Indian Coast Guard, who have oil spill response capabilities on standby,” X-Press Feeders said in a statement on Friday night.
The X-Press Pearl was carrying 1,486 containers when the fire started on May 20, 81 of which were dangerous goods containers, including 25 tons of nitric acid. According to the vessel’s operator X-Press Feeders, the general cargo consisted of foodstuffs; vehicles, vehicle parts and auto products; building and manufacturing supplies and raw materials; High Density Poly Ethylene (HDPE) and Low Density Poly Ethylene (LDPE) nurdles and other general cargo. It was also carrying 297 tons of heavy fuel oil and 51 tons of marine fuel oil, according to the company.
The container where the leakage occurred had been passed safe for transport at Jebel Ali, Dubai when it was loaded en route to Malaysia, the company notes. “Once the leak was discovered, the crew followed all of the established procedures under the International Maritime Dangerous Goods code in dealing with the situation,” it claims in a statement on its website.
The ship had applied to offload the container leaking nitric acid during discharge and loading operations at both Hamad Port in Qatar and Hazira Port in India, but these requests had been turned down on the grounds that the ports did not have specialist facilities or expertise to deal with the leaking unit.