The Express Pearl, a Singapore-registered private corporation called EOS RO, caught fire big time on May 19, 2021, not long after it entered the Colombo Port outside port area (approximately 9.5 kilometers from the port).
A report filed to Parliament states that at the time of the event, the ship was transporting 1,486 containers with 25 tons of nitric acid, along with other chemicals, cosmetics, low-density polyethylene (LDPE), and plastic plates, all of which could be used to produce bombs and fertilizers.
On board the ship, a serious fire started and spread uncontrollably for more than eight days. As a result, the ship's containers all fell into the water, causing significant chemical and oil spills.
One of the worst maritime environmental catastrophes in both Sri Lankan and global history is thought to have occurred with this tragedy.
It has now been discovered that the Attorney General's Office, the Marine Environment Protection Authority, and the Ministry of Maritime Affairs are postponing taking legal action against individuals responsible for this catastrophe.
The Parliamentary Departmental Oversight Committee on Environment, Natural Resources, and Sustainable Development met in December of last year, and during that meeting this problem was brought up.
Numerous topics were covered in this conference, one of which was the aforementioned government entities' inadequate coordination in taking the necessary action to stop this disaster.
Tens of thousands of Ghanaians who were impacted by the disaster that struck over three years ago are still fighting to receive the guaranteed compensation sum as a result.
Following this catastrophe, the government declared that fishing was prohibited from Kalutara to Negombo. It is important to note that the income of fishermen was significantly impacted by this declaration, which persisted for several months.
"All of the little fish species found in our area, such as sala, suda, and kumbula, have been decimated as a result of this disaster. As a result, we are having tremendous difficulties sustaining the fishing sector," 61-year-old Wattala area fisherman Maurice Donald stated.
"We, who have been severely affected by this, have not been given the compensation promised by the government till date," he claimed.
In January of last year, the government gave us only fifty thousand rupees, despite a 2.4 percent rise in inflation. Fisherman Morris went on to say that we need more money than this compensation amount provides.
Meanwhile, "Plastic garbage and oil washed ashore in our village after this accident. As a result, there are a lot less visitors visiting our area and fewer people coming to buy fish," notes Tisna Kumari of the village of Vattalai Prithipura.
He claimed that as a result, the retail shop he has been operating for the past 15 years in this village has suffered greatly from self-employment.
"Business is not being conducted as it once was. The nation's current economic crisis has had a serious impact on us.No money has been received yet, even though our names are listed as compensation," Disney continued.
Every fisherman in the districts of Kalutara, Gampaha, and Colombo was registered to make restitution payments. However, the government sets the sum for them based on the extent of the maritime disaster's devastation.
Notable is the fact that around 5,000 individuals with a direct or indirect connection to the fishing sector and the 15,000 fishermen who were impacted by this calamity are still struggling without receiving compensation.
The insurance business London P & I Club, which is headquartered in the UK capital, offered compensation of 3,068 million rupees, but the Sri Lankan government claims this is insufficient.
The Ministry of Fisheries stated in response to a request for information that seven requests have been made to the insurance firm in order to get the money required in order to pay the fishermen who were impacted.
The insurance firm has recently disclosed that it can only provide 19.8 million Shrelling pounds in compensation due to financial constraints.
The Attorney General's Department has consequently launched three cases in Sri Lanka, Singapore, and the United Kingdom in an effort to bring the victims' demands for more justice and compensation to fruition.
But the shipping company's insurance agent recently asked the Singapore International Trade Court to dismiss the lawsuit the Sri Lankan government had brought to recover damages for the accident-related harm.
The insurance agent's plea to have the lawsuit dismissed was denied by the court because the London court had established a cap on damages for the ship catastrophe and had mandated the filing of objections.
Last year, Justice Minister Wijetasa Rajapaksa brought up a severe accusation in the Parliament on this matter. That is to say, he disclosed that a 250 million dollar bribe was paid to a Sri Lankan residing overseas in order to avoid receiving payment from the aforementioned shipping company.
In the meantime, the Ministry of Fisheries stated that 15,117 fishermen have received compensation of 266 crore 71 million 66 thousand 956 rupees as per the response to the information request.
Furthermore, the Ministry of Fisheries has released compensation of 76 crore 98 million 39 thousand 616 rupees to 3,947 individuals from 23 sections that are not directly associated to fishing in the Western Province. This was accomplished through the registration of the application.
Concurrently, the government of Sri Lanka is executing a beach cleanup initiative to mitigate the ecological harm inflicted by the Express Pearl ship along the country's coast.
The program is being implemented in collaboration with the Sri Lanka Navy, the Department of Coast Guard, the Ministry of Provincial Councils and Local Government, the Central Environment Authority, the Environment Division of the Sri Lanka Police, and private businesses.
The "containers brought by this ship have not yet been removed completely," though. That's the reason we are conducting our fishing operations with extreme caution,'' stated angler Maurice Denault.
Reports of toxic gas in a container sunk in the ocean are coming in. We have no idea what the real story is. But the fish will likewise die in plenty if the container blows up. Our company will likewise be ruined as a result of this," he continued.
The Parliamentary Departmental Oversight Committee on Environment, Natural Resources, and Sustainable Development's Chairman, former minister of state for the environment Ajith Mannapperuma, paid a firsthand visit to the shipwreck site in the meantime.
He said, "I saw oil spills on the sea's surface," during this. Following a field visit in June of last year, MP Ajith Mannapperuma stated, "The oil spills in the sea have not been completely removed yet, according to the Marine Environment Protection Authority."
According to fishermen, there are fewer fish in the sea where this accident happened. In light of this catastrophe, the former state minister also brought up the idea of an annual review of the fishery.
Additionally, opposition MP Ajith Mannapperuma claimed that the government's response to the calamity has been sluggish and that it is exceedingly tough for exporters of ornamental fish to acquire fish as simply as previously.
Conversely, "The'manifest' (information repository) of this spacecraft is the subject of intense debate. The validity of the objects discovered on the ship, however, cannot be verified, even though several records pertaining to them are available," explained Wayamba University Senior Lecturer and Ecologist Professor Sevvanthi Jayakodi.
It's still unknown what was in the containers that were discovered aboard the ship. In the meantime, he went on to say that this ship also had chemicals that may start a fire.
"This catastrophe is more of a long-term issue than a pressing one. The impact is greater on living things than on dead ones. The professor continued, "These placental materials have entered the creatures' bodies.
In this context, Kalan Ajanta Perera stated that the catastrophe has impacted ecological rights and that the Center for Climate Justice and Transparency International Sri Lanka have filed cases in the High Court.
The Marine Minister and the Marine Environment Protection Authority appointed two separate committees to provide reports on this accident, and those committees have already turned in their final reports.
The two businesses have been urged not to release the reports to the public, nevertheless, by the Attorney General's Office. Notably, though, the report produced by the Marine Environment Protection Authority was delivered to the Center for Climate Justice in compliance with the High Court's ruling.
Two parliamentary committees have been looking into the shipwreck in the interim. This is being done by the Parliamentary Select Committee, led by Minister Ramesh Pathirana, and the Parliamentary Oversight Committee on Environment, led by Opposition Member of Parliament Ajith Mannapperuma.
The Attorney General's Department has been invited multiple times to come before the Parliamentary Oversight Committee, but the department has not done so as of yet. The Attorney General's Department's appearance before the Parliamentary Select Committee is notable, nevertheless.
However, representatives of the aforementioned authority stated that they have not heard back from the Attorney General's Department regarding the activities of the expert group that was appointed by the Marine Environment Protection Authority, how it should be carried out, or whether it will be necessary in the future.
However, the Ministry of Justice notified the Marine Environment Protection Authority recently that more work had been done and an international, independent expert panel had been created to continue the impact assessment, which was reported to the Parliamentary Oversight Committee.
Consequently, authorities of the Marine Environment Protection Authority stated that no definitive decision has been made about the expert committee's future activity.
Furthermore, representatives of the Marine Environment Protection Authority claim that their organization is not aware of the work being done in this area by the Attorney General's Department.
"Aside from wasting time, numerous committees are formed and court cases are brought, but neither the environmental harm nor the fishermen's suffering will be resolved. But all that's being lost is valuable time," an environmentalist argued.
In the meantime, Prof. Sevvanthi Jayakodi stated, "Studies should be conducted on a long-term basis regarding this disaster. Investigations should not be carried out only after a disaster, but continuous monitoring should be carried out so that similar disasters do not occur in the future."
Nevertheless, not all of the process's reports—completed or not—are available to the general public.
Rather, this misfortune requires a small nation to contend with a powerful enterprise. Its operation should be kept transparent to at least some extent. It is not typical for it to take three years following the catastrophe.
