Sri Lanka braces for oil spill from sunken cargo ship

Sri Lanka on Thursday braced for the possibility of an oil spill after a cargo ship laden with chemicals sank off its western coast, in what is already the country’s worst ever man-made environmental disaster.

The Singapore-registered MV X-Press Pearl, carrying 1,486 containers, including 25 tonnes of nitric acid along with other chemicals and cosmetics, was anchored off the port city of Negombo when a fire erupted onboard after an explosion on May 20. read more

Flaming containers filled with chemicals tumbled into the sea from the ship’s deck as emergency crews sought to contain the blaze…