Sri Lanka arrests captain of burnt MV X-Press Pearl

Sri Lanka's Criminal Investigations Department (CID) has arrested the captain of the MV X-Press Pearl container ship which caught fire on the outskirts of the Colombo Port last month.

Police Spokesperson DIG Ajith Rohana on Monday said the captain who is a Russian national would be produced before the Colombo High Court, Daily Mirror reported.

Earlier, the CID recorded statements from the captain and several others including the Chief Engineer of the vessel over the incident.

The spokesperson said the captain was arrested from a hotel in capital Colombo, where he and other crew members were held, and will be produced before a local High Court.

The X-Press Pearl reported an onboard acid leak and caught fire just as it was due to enter the Colombo harbour on May 20. The fire was put out only after 13 days.

Last week, Sri Lanka's Defense Secretary Gen. Kamal Gunaratne (Retd) had expressed his gratitude to the Indian High Commissioner in Colombo for the support extended to douse the fire on vessel X-Press Pearl.

The gratitude was conveyed to Indian High Commissioner Gopal Baglay in Colombo last Friday.

The Marine Environment Protection Authority said that the burning of the X Press Pearl vessel had caused a massive environmental disaster as beaches from the south coast to the west coast had been damaged by debris washed ashore.

According to local media reports, the Sri Lankan government is set to claim a whopping 40 million US dollars in damages due to the X-Press Pearl fire incident.

( With inputs from ANI )