Fire on MV X-Press Pearl container 'largely controlled': Indian High Commission in Colombo
Colombo [Sri Lanka], May 27 (ANI): The fire on MV X-Press Pearl container off Colombo coast has largely been controlled by Navies and Coast Guards of India and Sri Lanka, said the Indian High Commission in Colombo on Thursday.
ANI
May 27, 2021 16:05 IST
Colombo [Sri Lanka], May 27 (ANI): The fire on MV X-Press Pearl container off Colombo coast has largely been controlled by Navies and Coast Guards of India and Sri Lanka, said the Indian High Commission in Colombo on Thursday.
"Result of the India-Sri Lanka joint operation is now more tangible. The raging fire has largely been controlled and parts of MV X-Press Pearl are now clearly visible even as the fight continues," said the High Commission of India in Colombo.
"Fire on MV X-Press Pearl has reduced considerably due to untiring efforts by Navies and Coast Guards of India and Sri Lanka. White smoke in the visuals is of steam from the spraying of water on the hot metal. More power to the joint operation," the High Commission had said in an earlier tweet.
On Wednesday, the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) rushed its vessels to douse the fire that broke out on container vessel MV X-Press Pearl off Colombo coast in Sri Lanka.
According to ICG, the Sri Lankan authorities sought the Indian Coast Guard's assistance towards fire fighting operations. Upon government directives, ICG ship Vaibhav on maritime patrol was diverted immediately to reach the scene of the incident on Tuesday and ICG ship Vajra, which was despatched from Tuticorin, arrived at the site in the wee hours of May 26 to provide immediate assistance to MV X-Press Pearl.
Another ICG ship Samudra Prahari, a specialised Pollution Response (PR) vessel, has also been dispatched in PR configuration to augment the firefighting efforts and respond to the oil spill if occurred.
Meanwhile, ICG has also kept its formations at Kochi, Chennai and Tuticorin on standby for immediate assistance towards pollution response. Continuous coordination is being maintained with the Sri Lankan Coast Guard and other Sri Lankan authorities for augmenting the overall response operations towards containing the fire onboard MV X-Press Pearl.
The distressed vessel MV X-Press Pearl was carrying 1,486 containers with nitric acid and other hazardous IMDG code chemicals. The extreme fire, damage to containers and prevailing inclement weather has caused the vessel to tilt to starboard resulting in the falling of containers overboard. (ANI)
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