The cargo ship "X-PRESS PEATL", which has been burning for several days near the port of Colombo, Sri Lanka, has recently begun to partially sink to the seabed. The Sri Lankan Navy rescue team is salvaging to prevent the leakage of 321 tons of fuel oil on board.
Nevertheless, on June 4, local time, according to Bloomberg News, the chemicals and tiny plastic particles that have sunk into the sea have seriously polluted the ocean, causing Sri Lanka's worst environmental disaster so far.
Experts say that even if the salvage is successful, the pollution impact will be concentrated in 30-50 years.
"The Straits Times" previously reported that debris from the ship had spread to cover 150 kilometers of coastline.
According to the International Tanker Shipowners' Pollution Prevention Federation, the ship carried 1,486 containers containing nitric acid, sodium hydroxide, methanol and other chemicals, and about 400 containers contained small plastic particles.
According to the report, once the oil tank of the sunken ship leaks, the pollutants will spread along the ocean currents to the sea thousands of kilometers away, and then affect the high latitude areas.
A study by the French Marine Development Institute showed that although fish can eliminate tiny plastic particles, those planktons will be trapped by the plastic and washed up on the coasts of other countries and regions, which will destroy the local ecosystem.
Experts say that this phenomenon has occurred in the Fukushima nuclear accident.
He also said that even if the sunken fuel tank can be sealed, there will be leakage in the future, and the pollution will only be delayed.
(Producing Li Jiali Video Source Visual China)
Editor in charge: [Zhang Aolin]