By: Staff Writer

November 21, Colombo (LNW): X-Press Feeders has voiced frustration over the prolonged bureaucratic and legal challenges linked to the X-Press Pearl disaster, a 2021 incident that led to one of Sri Lanka’s worst environmental catastrophes.

 Over three and a half years later, Captain Vitaly Tyutkalo remains stranded in Sri Lanka, unable to return home due to a travel ban, highlighting what X-Press Feeders describes as unreasonable and lengthy legal delays.

In a recent update, the new Sri Lankan government announced plans to reopen investigations into the X-Press Pearl case.

These renewed investigations aim to secure additional multi-billion dollar settlements from insurance companies linked to the incident. X-Press Feeders, however, has emphasized that it has already paid nearly $160 million in compensation and is eager to see the case concluded.

The company issued a statement urging the Sri Lankan authorities to consider the impact of ongoing legal actions against Captain Tyutkalo, who has been unable to leave the country for 1,280 days.

The prolonged legal entanglement has significantly disrupted the captain’s personal life, causing him to miss family milestones, including a daughter’s wedding and another daughter’s graduation.

The company contends that the delays in presenting evidence in court have exacerbated the emotional and professional toll on the captain, calling it “unreasonable.”

The disaster occurred in May 2021 when the three-month-old X-Press Pearl, a 2,700 TEU containership, caught fire and sank off the coast of Sri Lanka.

The ship was carrying hazardous materials, including nitric acid and microplastic granules, leading to severe environmental damage along the western coast of the island.

 The incident resulted in the release of 1,680 metric tonnes of plastic nurdles, small plastic pellets about 5mm in size used in plastic manufacturing. These nurdles and other toxic substances spread across the Indian Ocean, causing significant ecological harm.

The environmental impact has been devastating, with local communities still involved in cleanup operations years later.

 Approximately 200 women continue to collect and separate the plastic nurdles that have washed ashore, earning a modest wage of around $10 per day for their efforts.

The persistence of this manual cleanup operation underscores the scale of the disaster and the slow progress in restoring the affected coastal areas.

In response to the X-Press Pearl incident, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has taken action to mitigate future risks.

The organization has drafted new recommendations focused on the safe transportation of plastic pellets on ships, aiming to prevent similar environmental disasters.

These recommendations are a step toward enhancing maritime safety standards, but they come too late for the communities affected by the 2021 spill.

As Sri Lanka prepares to revisit the X-Press Pearl case, there is growing pressure to balance the need for accountability and compensation with the humanitarian concerns related to those involved, such as Captain Tyutkalo.

For now, the lingering effects of the disaster continue to impact both the environment and individuals tied to the incident, keeping the case in the public eye.