Indika Rajapaksha – Centre for Environmental Justice
Centre for environmental Justice, last week submitted their observations regarding the events escalated with the fire related to chemical leak and resultant events in xpress pearl cargo ship in May . The Center for Environmental Justice has already filed a fundamental rights petition in Supreme Court seeking an order directing the authorities to conduct an independent and impartial investigation into the fire on MV X-Press Pearl vessel. The ship was carrying around 42 different chemicals including caustic soda, methanol, sodium methoxide, nitric acid, urea, sulphur, vinyl acetate, Epoxy resin, other unspecified container of chemicals. and several other materials such as lithium-ion batteries, copper slags, and electronic goods that commonly contain hazardous substances. The accident affected the ocean system including marine fauna, flora, coastal environment as well as the livelihoods of thousand s of fisherman.
