視頻加載中…
一艘貨船在斯裏蘭卡附近海域持續燃燒了近兩周。
而這場火災帶來的後果，可能無法估量。
“MS X-Press Pearl”號，一艘在新加坡注冊的貨輪，于5月15日從印度出發，5月20日抵達科倫坡港附近時發出火警求救信號。
斯裏蘭卡海軍以及港務局派出救援船到現場滅火，火勢一度基本得到控制，但5月25日貨輪發生爆炸並再次燃起大火。經過爲期13天的救援，大火終于在本周二被撲滅，全部25名船員已撤離。
然而，災難沒有結束。
A cargo ship carrying tonnes of chemicals sank off Sri Lanka’s west coast, its navy said on Wednesday, and tonnes of plastic pellets have fouled the country’s rich fishing waters in one of its worst-ever marine disasters.
The government on Wednesday suspended fishing along an 80-km (50-mile) stretch of the island’s coastline, affecting 5,600 fishing boats, and hundreds of soldiers have been deployed to clean affected beaches.
The Singapore-registered MV X-Press Pearl, carrying 1,486 containers, including 25 tonnes of nitric acid along with other chemicals and cosmetics, was anchored off Sri Lanka’s west coast when a fire erupted onboard after an explosion on May 20.
Flaming containers laden with chemicals tumbled into the sea from the ship’s deck as emergency crews sought to contain the blaze over the ensuing two weeks.
這艘貨輪載有1486個集裝箱，包括25噸硝酸，和28個集裝箱的塑料袋原材料，油箱裏還有300多噸燃料。
斯裏蘭卡西部的海岸線已被大量大量聚乙烯顆粒和浮油淹沒。外媒報道稱，該國正面臨曆史上最嚴重的環境災難。
An officer from the National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency collects samples of a cargo container that spilled from the MV X-Press Pearl container ship which caught fire off the Colombo Harbor, on a beach in Ja-Ela, Sri Lanka, May 26, 2021. /Reuters
聚乙烯顆粒被大量用于制造塑料袋、薄膜等産品，但同時這些顆粒對于海洋生物來說是致命的。由于體積小，這種顆粒很容易被鳥類、魚類和其他海洋野生動物誤食，大量海洋生物因此死亡。
在過去的幾天裏，斯裏蘭卡政府已經部署了超過1000 人來清理受到汙染的海灘。當地居民被告知不要接觸任何動物屍體，因爲可能含有劇毒。火災現場方圓80公裏範圍內已禁止捕魚，5600艘漁船的作業將受到影響。
The Marine Environment Protection Authority said that the burning of the X Press Pearl vessel had caused a massive environmental disaster as beaches from the southern coast to the western coast had been damaged due to the debris which was washed ashore.
The government said a large number of marine life had been killed as a result of the pollution caused by the fire while the Fisheries Department has imposed a temporary ban on fishing from the southern coast to the western coast.
Over 1,000 people have been deployed to clean up the damaged beaches in the past days and people have been warned not to touch any of the debris as it could be harmful.
6月2日，斯裏蘭卡總統戈塔巴雅曾下令將起火貨船拖向遠離科倫坡港的深海區，以防引發更大的環境災難。
然而很快，這一行動就被發現並不可行——斯裏蘭卡海軍發言人稱，因貨輪船身後部已觸及海床，試圖將貨輪拖向遠離科倫坡港的深海區的行動被迫中止。
The craft began to sink early on Wednesday, and a salvage crew tried to tow the vessel to deeper water away from the coast, Fisheries Minister Kanchana Wijesekera said in a tweet, but the attempt was abandoned after several hours.
“The towing of the fire-engulfed X-Press Pearl ship was stopped due to the rear end of the vessel hitting the sea bed,” navy spokesman Captain Indika de Silva told Reuters.
Photos taken by the country’s air force showed the charred wreck of the ship spewing white smoke as it listed to the right and began sinking, and part of it soon touched the seabed, just 22 meters (73 feet) deep in the immediate area.
目前，針對貨輪起火原因的調查還在進行中。