BBC reveals a permanently toxic heritage from a cargo ship’s crash near Sri Lanka

Four years after the struck cargo ship caused the largest plastic spill ever registered, the volunteers of Sri Lanka’s beaches still sift pounds of small, toxic plastic pellets from the sand.

Billions of plastic nourishments are thought to be called X-Press Pearl crash in 2021Along with tones of engine fuel, acid, caustic soda, lead, copper slag, lithium batteries and epoxy resin – all toxic to water life.

The immediate damage was obvious: the Nurds flooded the coastline, white, while dead turtles, dolphins and fish began to wash.

But scientists now mark fears that environmental damage can be much more durable than it has been thought before.

So far, hundreds of millions of Nurdles may have been cleaned -but the rest of the lentil microplastic granules are becoming more difficult to find when they disappear deeper into the sand.

The worse is that these pieces of plastic now look even more toxic, according to new studies.

“They seem to accumulate ocean pollution,” says David Megson of Manchester University. “Like a lovely big chemical sponge.”

The observations are the raw materials that are melted to make plastic products and it is not uncommon to be transported to the global plastic delivery chain.

The problems of the X-Press pearl began shortly after sailing from Dubai port, connected to Port Clung in Malaysia, when the crew noticed that a container carrying nitric acid leaks, corroding the metal box. But they were denied a permit to unload smoking, the leakage of the container in the ports in Qatar and India.

The container leaks acid at a speed of about one liter per hour at least eight days when he sailed in the waters of Sri Lanka late on the night of May 19, 2021.

He had asked for an emergency gadget – but by the morning the flag ship in Singapore was lit.

Despite the efforts of the crew fire department, the authorities and rescuers of Sri Lanka, the fire spread throughout the ship.

Two weeks later, she sank, spilling her load and fuel into the sea about nine nautical miles from the southwest coast of the country, between the capital Colombo and Negombo to the north.

What happened next was “just like a military movie,” says Mudita Katuvavala, an environmentalist and founder of The Pearl Protectors, a local non-governmental organization who voluntarily agreed to help the cleaning operation, which is largely managed by Sri Lankan state authorities.

“We started seeing turtles to wash with similar types … The skin was a burning traces (s) peeling off. The nose and eyes were red and puffy, and we saw dolphins were washed and … their skin peeled off and flushed,” said G -n -N -Katuvaval.

The observations on the beaches were “like snow,” he says, adding that it was “horrifying.”

The cleaning started seriously. In the beginning, Mr. Katuwawala and his colleagues volunteers “collected 300-400 pounds every day.”

Over time, it dropped to three to four pounds in a few hours.

“Nurdles scattered more scattered. It was more difficult to see them while they were buried in the sand over time.”

It was decided that the price-benefit ratio was no longer worth the effort to mobilize volunteers. The groups stood, leaving the task of the local local cleaning groups.

At the same time, scientists are worried about the possibility of plastic pellets – already harmful to animals that eat them by accident – can become more toxic, contaminated by spill or other sources of pollution.

In the coming years, they collected samples that could help track the effect over time.

In November 2024. BBC and Pond investigations He sent more than 20 of these samples to a team of forensic chemists specializing in environmental pollution from the Manchester University of Sofia.

They found that the most contaminated haircuts were burned in the fire, which leaked metals toxic to water life, such as arsenic, lead, cadmium, copper, cobalt and nickel.

The team also discovered that the pellets “still go around it seems to suck more environmental pollution” and become “more toxic”, according to G -N -Megson.

“They will be absorbed (s) will transmit pollution to marine organisms,” he says.

Tests conducted on fish caught near the site of the disaster – as well as a nearby lagoon from Negombo – found some containing the same pollutants that were present in the ship and Nurals.

Some of the fish contained levels of dangerous metals – some of which were found in the disaster – which exceeds safe limits.

Researchers say the disaster cannot be rejected as a source of pollution, although it cannot also be directly proven to be the source, since it is not known whether these fish eat, how much they have absorbed, or if the pollution comes from other sources.

“But placed on top of everything else that is in this system, there is a really good probability of causing harm to the environment, as well as potentially harm people and people who eat and rely on this marine ecosystem for the source of their food,” adds G -N -Magson.

Local fishermen attract the connection to the disaster.

“There is no fish since then. We have never had the same amount of fish we used to catch,” explains the fisherman Jude Sullant.

“Our life turned upside down. From the section where the ship sank until you get many new, young fish here at all.”

The owner of the ship, X-Press Feeders LTD, says he has worked hard to guarantee the best response to the disaster and has spent more than $ 130 million ($ 96 million) to remove the remains and debris in the sea.

It also says he has also paid more than $ 20 million to Sri Lanka’s government for cleaning operations and compensate for fishermen.

However, it says that the Sri Lanka government has taken responsibility for all shore cleaning activities and is disappointed with the delay in this process and the current impacts it has.

The Sri Lanka government says the amount paid by the owner of the ship – which was restricted by the temporary order of the Britain’s seaside – is not sufficient to cover the long -term damage and pursue legal action to cancel the cap and secure more compensation.

On Thursday, Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court ordered the company to pay $ 1 billion as an initial payment to cover long -term economic and environmental damage, which is said to have suffered the disaster – but the cap remains in force. The Supreme Court has no jurisdiction over Singapore, where the X-Press Feeders LTD has its headquarters.

X-Press’s Foars said he was extremely disappointed with the decision and that they were examined with their legal advisers, insurers and other relevant stakeholders to best appreciate their next course of action.

Prof. Prachanty Gneardena – an environmental economist from the University of Sri Javardpura, who chairs an expert committee of scientists to evaluate the damage – puts the price of the disaster more than $ 6 billion, taking into account things such as the liberation, as well as the location on the locals, the impact on the tourism and the disability burned.

“Large quantities of dioxin and furan are added to the atmosphere and these are carcinogens. And then we estimate that it can kill about 70 people in our country,” says Prof. Gunendena.

The owner of the ship rejects this assessment.

He cites the International Federation for Pollution of Tanker Owners (ITOPF), an organization funded by navigation to evaluate sea spills. It says the report was “non -articular, inaccurate and lacking a reliable scientific basis”.

The owner of the ship also said that his own crew “followed the internationally accepted procedures for dealing with the leakage of acid, while maintaining all safety and emergency protocols.”

The port administration of Colombo also denied any responsibility, saying that it did not know about the problems until the ship arrived in its waters.

The sea is the vital power of this island nation. Its stunning gold shores are a huge equality for tourists, and for generations of fishing has fed the country.

But the sullant, the fisherman, is worried that his lifestyle is no longer a future.

“Many sell their boats and try to go abroad. And many people feed. In fact, my son, he works with me right now. He is also a fisherman.

“But he is also considering leaving the country. It has been a few years. If we were going to get justice, we would have it so far,” he says.

You can listen to the BBC SRI Lanka Documentary: The X Press Pearl Disaster https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3rbp

Leana Hosea is an environmental investigative journalist and founder of non -profit ponds that explores the problems of fresh water and the marine environment.