CEJ urges authorities to claim balance USD 6.4 Bn compensation

The Center for Environmental Justice (CEJ) has expressed concern over the disaster caused to the ocean environment following the destruction caused due to the MV X- Press Pearl container ship fire three years ago in the Sri Lankan ocean at Negombo and said the balance compensation of US dollars 6.4 billion should be claimed from the Insurance company in Singapore before May 19 this year.

It is said that the Singaporean insurance company has already made US dollars 4.5 million compensation to Sri Lanka on three occasions and the deadline to recover the balance compensation is May 19.

CEJ, Senior Environmental Scientist Hemantha Withanage said it is now the responsibility of Sri Lankan authorities to expedite to recover the balance compensation from the Singaporean Insurance company. It is said steps were immediately taken to clean the affected coastal belt and the ocean area soon after the disaster to enable fishermen to go ahead with their activities According to the Fisheries Ministry the fishing activities of Hendala, Wattala, Dikovita and Kepungoda ocean areas were badly affected following the ship disaster. The Singapore registered X- press Pearl container ship caught fire off the Colombo outer Harbor and nearly 1480 containers inside the ship were immediately removed to prevent the fire.

According to the Fisheries Department the Environmental Ministry and several other authorized institutions including the Maritime Pollution Prevention Authority and the National Aquatic and Research Authority (NARA) conducted investigations into the disaster. The decision of banning fishing activities in the affected ocean area was taken after considering the health risk due to the chemical substances, garbage and other damaged objects which were in the ocean bed. Meanwhile the Mutwal Fishermen Protection Association (MFPA) said a large number of victimized fisher folk are still awaiting compensation from the Environment Protection Authority (MEPA) or any other responsible state organization.