The sinking of a burning ship carrying chemicals off the coast of Sri Lanka has caused "significant damage to the planet" by releasing toxic substances into the environment, according to the United Nations.
The U.N. representative in Sri Lanka said the sinking of the ship caused "significant damage to the planet" by releasing hazardous substances into the ecosystem.
The Singapore-flagged MV X-Press Pearl sank off Colombo Thursday a month after catching fire, raising concerns about a possible environmental disaster.
"An environmental emergency of this nature causes significant damage to the planet by the release of hazardous substances into the ecosystem," U.N. Resident Coordinator in Sri Lanka Hanaa Singer-Hamdy said in a statement late this past weekend. "This, in turn, threatens lives and livelihoods of the population in the coastal areas."
A U.N. team of oil spill and chemical experts - provided by the European Union - has been sent to Sri Lanka, according to Al Jazeera.
Sri Lanka has submitted an interim claim of $40 million to X-Press Feeders - the ship's operating company - to cover part of the cost of fighting the fire, which broke out May 20 when the vessel was anchored about 9.5 nautical miles (18 kilometers) northwest of Colombo and waiting to enter the port.
Environmentalists are suing the government and X-Press Feeders for allegedly failing to prevent Sri Lanka's worst marine environmental disaster, while Sri Lankan police have launched a criminal investigation into the incident.
Last week, experts recovered the data recorder from the fire-stricken vessel.
The vessel, the "X-Press Pearl," caught fire May 20 and burned for nearly a month before sinking Thursday, The Associated Press said.
X-Press Pearl was anchored around 18 kilometers northwest of Colombo and awaiting clearance to enter port when the fire caught.
The ship had been carrying chemicals including nitric acid and 350 metric tons of oil. Of the nearly 1,500 containers the ship was carrying, 81 were labeled as "dangerous goods."
Billions of plastic pellets and debris such as burning fiberglass and other hazardous wastes washed up on the Sri Lankan coastline in the weeks that followed.
More than 1,000 tons of debris has been collected from cleanup operations covering 200 kilometers of coastline, Sri Lanka's Marine Environment Protection Authority said.
"An environmental emergency of this nature causes significant damage to the planet by the introduction of hazardous substances into the ecosystem," Hanaa Singer-Hamdy, United Nations resident coordinator in Sri Lanka, said in quotes by Al Jazeera.
The release of the hazardous chemicals threatens lives and livelihoods of the people in the coastal areas, Singer-Hamdy said. A U.N. team of oil spill and chemical experts has been sent to Sri Lanka.
The Sri Lankan government has made a claim for $40 million to X-Press Feeders, a container shipping company, to cover the cost of fighting the fire that caused the cargo ship to sink, according to the Associated Press.
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