BBC revealed the lasting toxic heritage of cargo ships from Sri Lanka

Four years later, volunteers on the Sri Lankan beaches are still taking small, poisonous plastic pills of sandy pills.

Billions X-press pearl disaster in 2021Tone engine fuel, Acid Sid, Costic Soda, Shise, Copper slag, lithium battery and epoxy resin – poisonous in all aquatic life.

Immediate damage becomes clear: Noardles erupted on the edge line, turned white, while the dead tortoise, dolphins and fish started washing.

But scientists are now flagging for fear that environmental damage can be more durable than previous thoughts.

So far, hundreds of billions of noodles may have been cleaned – but the remaining, lentils -shaped microplastic granules have become even more difficult to find due to deep disappearance in the sand.

Worse, the new research suggests that those pieces of plastic seem to be more toxic.

David Megson of Manchester Metropolitan University said, “They seem to be collecting pollution from the sea.” Like a beautiful large chemical sponge. “

Nourdals are a raw material that melts to produce plastic products and is not uncommon to transport a large amount of transport to the global plastic supply chain.

The X-press began in the background of the X-press pearls when the port of the port of Malaysia was not tied to the Colla, when the crew realized that the nitric acid sid carrying container metal box was carved. But they were denied permission to leak containers on smoking, quadrilateral and ports in India.

The container was leaking at the rate of about an hour for at least eight days after traveling in Sri Lanka water late on May 7, on May 7.

It requested an emergency birthday – but in the morning the Singapore -flaged ship was low.

Despite the efforts of the fire brigade from Krud, Sri Lankan officials and salvation, the fire spread throughout the ship.

Two weeks later, they drowned, from the southwest coast of the country to the north capital Colombo and Negombo, its freight and fuel in the sea around nine ninety-nine miles.

The environmentalist and founder of the pearl protectors and founder Mudita Katuwala says that what happened was “was outside the film”, who voluntarily worked to help the shipping operation, which was widely run by the Sri Lankan state officials by funding by the owners of the ship.

“We looked like the tortoise washed with similar features … the skin was burned (and). The nose and eyes were red and we saw the dolphin washing and … their skin was peeled and red,” said Mr. Katuwala.

They say that the Nurdles on the beach were “like ice”.

The cleaning began honestly. Initially, Mr. Katwaavala and his colleague volunteers were “collecting 300-400 kg of noodles daily”.

Over time, within two hours they came down to three to four kilograms.

“Nourdals were getting more scattered, over time it was difficult for them to see because they were buried in the sand.”

Efforts to unite volunteers were no longer fixed. The work stood down from the state-organized local clean-up groups.

At the same time, scientists are likely to have plastic pills – it is already harmful to animals that are mistaken for animals – may be more toxic, contaminated with leakage, or from other pollution sources.

In the years to come, they have collected samples that can help find out the results over time.

In November 2024, BBC and Waterhead checks More than 20 of those samples were sent to the Forensic Chemist team expert in the environmental pollution of the Manchester Metropolitan University.

They found the highest contaminated noodles in a metal fire that is poisonous for aquatic life such as arsenic, lead, cadmium, copper, cobalt and nickel.

According to Shri Megson, the squad also found that the team also appears to be “still increasing more pollution from the atmosphere”.

He says, “They will pollute the inward (and) sea creatures,” he says.

Tests done on the caught fish near the disaster – as well as in the nearest Negombo Lago – some of the same pollutants were found in the ship’s cargo and the noodles.

Some fish had a layer of hazardous metals – some of which were found in the disaster – which exceeded the safe limit.

Researchers say that the disaster cannot be exempted as a source of contamination, even if it cannot be proved to be a direct source, because it does not know whether these fish have eaten, how much they have consumed or pollution from other sources.

“But placed on top of all the other things in that system, it harm the environment and is really good possibilities for their food sources to eat and have a potential loss of people and humans who are dependent on that ocean.

Local fishermen draw a link to disaster.

“There is no fish since then. The fish used to catch us were not so fish,” the fishermen explains the Sulta.

“Our life is upside down. You don’t get too many new, young fish until the ship is drowned.”

The owner of the ship, X-press feeder Limited, says that till date they have worked diligently to ensure a great deal of disaster, and spent more than $ 1 million (M £ m) to remove the collapse and break on the sea.

The Sri Lankan government has paid more than $ 1 million to pay the coastal cleans-up operation and compensate for fishermen.

However, it is said that the Sri Lankan government has accepted the responsibility of clean-up activities on all the shores, and it has been disappointed by the delay in the process and the ongoing consequences.

The Sri Lankan government says the amount paid by the ship’s owner – which was capped by the order of the interim UK Maritime Court – not enough to inform the long -term damage, and pursuing legal action to overthrow the hat and secure further compensation.

On Thursday, the Sri Lankan Supreme Court ordered the company to pay $ 1 billion as a preliminary payment for long -term financial and environmental damage, saying that the country had to suffer as a result of a disaster – but the cap remains. There is no workspace in Singapore in the Supreme Court, where X-Press Feeder Limited is headquartered.

The X-Press Feeder said the decision was extremely frustrated and they are reviewing it with their legal consultants, insurance companies and other related stakeholders for the best evaluation of their next action.

Pvt. Prashati Ganeradeena – Environmental economists at Shri Jayardenapura University who were the chairman of the scientist’s expert committee to evaluate the loss – the cost of the disaster affects the loss of wildlife, the loss of tourism, the loss of tourism and burning of local clouds.

“The atmosphere has been added to a large number of dioxins and turtles and these are carcinogens. And then we have calculated that it can kill about 70 people in our country,” Prof. Gunaredana is called.

The ship owner refused this assessment.

This international tanker owner quotes the Pollution Federation (ITOPF), which is financed by the shipping industry to evaluate maritime leakage. It states that the report was “lack of unpleasant, wrong and reliable scientific support”.

The owner of the ship also said to himself that and his employees. He has “followed the internationally accepted process of the Acid Sid leakage while maintaining all security and emergency protocols”.

The Colombo Port Authority has also rejected any responsibility, saying it is not known about these problems until the ship is in the water.

The sea is the vitality of the country of the island. Its amazing gold edges are a huge draw for tourists and has fed the country for generations for generations.

But the fisherman Shri Sultan care that his lifestyle no longer has a future.

“Many people are selling their boats and trying to go abroad. And many people are bored. In fact, my son is working with me at the moment. He is also a fisherman.

He says, “But he is thinking of leaving the country. It has been many years already. If we had got justice, we would have got it so far,” he says.

You hear BBC documentary Sri Lanka: X Press Pearl Disaster

Lina Hosia is an environmental research journalist and founder of Na-Fafa Water Shed, which searches on the problems of fresh water and sea environment.