Based on information available to the Owners, the fire onboard is generally thought to be linked to a nitric acid leak.

The nitric acid was carried in a container that was loaded in Jebel Ali. The container was passed fit for passage by stevedores during loading. The leak was first noticed by the crew on 11 May 2021.

Once the leak was discovered, the crew followed established procedures on board to manage the situation, including washing off the leaking cargo with seawater and using sawdust. The vessel berthed in both Hamad Port in Qatar and Hazira Port in India before continuing its planned journey to Colombo. Multiple urgent applications were made at both ports to offload the leaking container but were rejected. The vessel had to continue its voyage to Colombo. En route, it encountered adverse weather conditions. The resulting rolling and pitching of the X-Press Pearl are believed to have worsened the leakage inside the container.

The X-Press Pearl reached Colombo on or around midnight of 19 May 2021. On 20 May 2021, personnel from the Sri Lankan authorities boarded the X-Press Pearl and subsequently disembarked with no further actions taken. The vessel was not allowed to berth despite urgent requests to discharge the leaking container. In the early hours of 21 May 2021, heavy smoke and flames were spotted. Colombo Port dispatched tugs to assist with firefighting efforts, but they proved to be ineffective.

Yes. On 21 May 2021, the Owners engaged SMIT, a global salvage company. Despite the restrictions due to COVID pandemic, a 12-man international salvage team was mobilised to the scene by 23 May 2021 to assume conduct of the firefighting efforts.

The salvors took charge of firefighting operations, including attaching a tow line to keep smoke out of accommodations and conducting boundary cooling. By 25 May 2021, the fire had spread. The crew and salvors were forced to abandon the vessel for safety reasons. On or around 1 June 2021, the salvors reboarded the vessel in an attempt to tow it to deep waters. The tow was unsuccessful as the vessel was sitting on the seabed.

Owners immediately engaged a Wreck Caretaker to monitor pollution and ensure the wreck was sufficiently marked to prevent navigation hazards. Side-scan sonar surveys were conducted to locate sunken containers and debris within a 1,000-meter zone of the wreck, from water depths over 10 meters as of 1 April 2022. This was then verified by the National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency of Sri Lanka. Owners engaged the Shanghai Salvage Company (SSC) to remove the wreck. Due to a complicated bureaucratic process and south westerly monsoon conditions, SSC commenced operations in December 2021. The wreck had to be cut into two sections and lifted onboard semi-submersible vessels. The final section of the wreck was removed on January 10, 2024. The removed wreck was sent to a certified decommissioning facility outside of Sri Lanka for dismantling, recycling, and disposal. The total cost of the wreck removal process was over USD 100,000,000.

Owners mobilised international experts from International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation (ITOPF) and Oil Spill Response Limited (OSRL) to advise and monitor the beach clean-up operations and overall response. The initial experts arrived on the ground as early as 2 June 2021. While owners offered to engage private contractors to conduct the clean-up operations, the Sri Lankan government insisted that such work be coordinated by Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA) and paid for by Owners. Owners have paid all claims submitted by MEPA that were assessed by ITOPF as reasonable. To date, over USD$7,756,000 has been paid to the Sri Lankan Government for beach clean-up efforts.

Owners recognise that the incident has impacted the lives of certain groups in the local community. To alleviate the situation, Owners made initial payments of close to USD$10 million to the Sri Lankan Government, based on claims submitted by the fishing community through MEPA. Further payments were suspended when parties representing sections of the fishing community launched legal action against the government and other stakeholders, with submissions indicating a disparity between what Owners had paid the Government of Sri Lanka and what had been released as payments to the fishing community. Owners remain committed to supporting the affected Sri Lankan community and stand ready to proceed with further payments to the Sri Lankan Government, if given the assurance that such compensation will reach the right people.