Sri Lanka

Colombo, Jun 19 (PTI) A senior health official in Sri Lanka has been transferred after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa expressed his unhappiness over not being able to ease the COVID-19 restrictions in the country on June 14 due to presentation of wrong data that showed a spike in the number of deaths from the virus.

Addressing the health officials on Friday to announce the easing of travel restrictions from June 21 till June 25, Rajapaksa said he was planning to lift the lockdown on June 14 but could not do so due to the presentation of wrong data on COVID-19 deaths.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka is seeking an interim claim of $40 million from the operator of a fire-ravaged cargo ship to cover part of the cost of fighting the blaze, officials said Saturday.

Sri Lanka’s attorney general has sent the claim to lawyers representing X-Press Feeders, the ship’s operating company, said Darshani Lahandapura, head of the state-run Marine Pollution Protection Authority.

She said authorities were still assessing the total damages, and the interim claim seeks compensation for expenses from May 20, when the ship caught fire, through June 1.

Colombo, Jun 6 (PTI) Marine experts in Sri Lanka recovered the data recorder of the Singapore-flagged fire-stricken cargo ship sinking slowly off the country's capital, officials have said as authorities appointed a panel to look into the impact of the incident on the marine environment.

There were no signs of oil or chemical spills have detected so far, Sri Lanka Ports Authority said in a statement on Saturday.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Experts recovered the data recorder of a fire-ravaged ship carrying chemicals that is slowly sinking off Sri Lanka’s capital, as salvage crews stood by to head off a possible environmental disaster, officials said Sunday.

The Singapore-flagged MV X-Press Pearl started sinking Wednesday, a day after authorities extinguished a fire that raged on the vessel for 12 days. Efforts to tow the ship into deeper waters away from the port in Colombo had failed after the ship’s stern became submerged and rested on the seabed.

COLOMBO, Jun 5 (NNN-XINHUA) – Four people were killed and over 170,000 were affected, by days of strong gales and heavy rains, which lashed out across the country in recent days, the Disaster Management Centre said today.

Till this morning, seven people were also missing, due to the inclement weather, while two people were injured.

Over 5,000 people had been affected and moved to safer locations, while 65 houses had been damaged in the worst affected districts.

Colombo, Jun 5 (AP-PTI) Flash floods and mudslides in Sri Lanka triggered by heavy rains have killed at least three people and left two missing, while more than 5,000 are displaced, officials said Saturday.

Rains have been pouring in six districts of the Indian Ocean island nation since Thursday night, and many paddy fields and roads have been inundated, blocking traffic.

Two people died in floods and one in a mudslide, said Pradeep Kodippili of the government's Disaster Management Center. Another two are missing in floods.

(Reuters) --- Sri Lanka on Thursday braced for the possibility of an oil spill after a cargo ship laden with chemicals sank off its western coast, in what is already the country's worst ever man-made environmental disaster.

The Singapore-registered MV X-Press Pearl, carrying 1,486 containers, including 25 tonnes of nitric acid along with other chemicals and cosmetics, was anchored off the port city of Negombo when a fire erupted onboard after an explosion on May 20. 

(Reuters) --- A cargo ship carrying tonnes of chemicals is sinking off Sri Lanka's west coast, the country's government and navy said on Wednesday, in one of Sri Lanka's worst-ever marine disasters.

The Singapore-registered MV X-Press Pearl, carrying 1,486 containers, including 25 tonnes of nitric acid, along with other chemicals and cosmetics, was anchored off the island's west coast when a fire erupted on May 20.

COLOMBO, May 27 (Xinhua) -- The Sri Lanka Navy on Thursday said it was extinguishing the flames on board the X-Press Pearl ship which caught fire near the Colombo Port on May 20.

Navy Spokesman Captain Indika De Silva told Xinhua that teams continued to be on scene to douse the flames and the fire had been confined to the back of the vessel. However, he said efforts were being hampered by heavy winds and inclement weather conditions.

Colombo, May 26 (AP-PTI) Sri Lanka has received 500,000 doses of Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine donated by China as the Indian Ocean island nation faces severe shortage of vaccines amid a recent rise in infections.

The vaccine stock that arrived early Wednesday is the second donation from China, following a shipment of 600,000 doses in March.

Sri Lanka is facing a shortage of vaccine after the producer in neighboring India failed to provide the promised Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine stocks. The government on Tuesday agreed to buy 14 million doses of Sinopharm from China.