Sri Lanka ship fire sparks fears of country’s ‘worst marine ecological disaster ever’ |

The sinking of a fire-damaged container ship loaded with chemicals off Sri Lanka’s coast has triggered the “worst marine ecological disaster” the country has ever seen, a volunteers group has said.

The MV X-Press Pearl began sinking on Wednesday, a day after authorities extinguished a fire that had raged on the vessel for 12 days.

Efforts to tow the boat into deeper waters away from the country’s main port, in the capital Colombo, failed after its stern became submerged and rested on the seabed.