X-Press Pearl fire: Turtle carcasses wash ashore in Sri Lanka

Nearly a hundred carcasses of turtles with throat and shell damage, as well as dozens of dead dolphins and a blue whale, have washed ashore in Sri Lanka since a container ship burned and sank, raising fears of a severe marine disaster. Ecologists believe the deaths were directly caused by the fire and release of hazardous chemicals while the Singapore-flagged X-Press Pearl burned for 12 days and sank last week off Sri Lanka’s main port in the capital Colombo. Sri Lankan wild life workers remove decomposed remains of a turtle lies on a beach polluted following the sinking of a container ship that caught fire while transporting chemicals off Kapungoda, outskirts of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, June 21, 2021. With over three decades experience on turtle conservation, Kapurusinghe said the dead turtles had oral, cloacal and throat bleeding and "specific parts of their carapace have burns and erosion signs.” The sea off Sri Lanka and its coastline are home to five species of turtles that regularly come to lay eggs. Lalith Ekanayake, a marine and coastal ecologist, suspects, based on the nature of the fire and amount of chemicals, that “at least 400 turtles may have died and their carcasses may have sunk in the sea or drifted to the deep sea.” This photo provided by Sri Lankan Navy shows the sinking MV X-Press Pearl off Colombo port, Sri Lanka, Thursday, June 17, 2021.