Sri-Lankan and Iranian ships drown: What you need to know

Sri-Lankan Ship and Iranian ship caught fire. Picture Courtesy: Al Jazeera, WSJ

• A Sri Lankan cargo ship that caught fire has now sunk in the sea near Colombo during an attempt to tow the vessel to deeper waters. Due to the severe damage caused by fire, there was an uncertain situation at the beginning of the towing, reported Colombo Page.

• Singapore flagged Containership, X-Press Pearl with a leaking container of nitric acid reported smoke from the cargo on the 20th May. The vessel reported a fire on dek on May 21.

• X-Press Pearl was carrying 1486 containers with 25 tonnes of Nitric Acid, several other chemicals, and cosmetics. It departed from the port of Hazira in India on 15th May

• Several teams, including the Navy and the Ports Authority, were on standby to prevent an oil spill from the ship.

• In another incident, more than 400 troops were forced to jump for their lives on Wednesday when an Iranian warship burst into flames and sank to the bottom of the Gulf of Oman.

• The fire onboard, the Kharg, used to resupply other ships at sea and conduct training exercises, broke out in the early hours of Wednesday.