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Chairman of the Centre for Environmental Justice Ravindranath Dabare said that his organization’s stance remains that the claim for compensation in the X-Press Pearl maritime disaster should be filed in Sri Lanka.
Attorney General Sanjay Rajaratnam today filed a lawsuit at the Singapore Commercial Court seeking compensation for the environmental pollution caused by the X-Press Pearl cargo ship that caught fire in Sri Lankan waters causing what is considered the worst maritime disaster in the country’s history.
On 20 May 2021, the Singapore-flagged vessel caught fire and sank off the west coast of Sri Lanka. It carried 1,488 containers, including 81 with dangerous goods, 25 tonnes of nitric acid, 348 tonnes of oil, and up to 75 billion small plastic pellets known as nurdles.
"If the government chooses to file claims in Singapore, it should offer an explanation to the Sri Lankan public as to what the advantages are, as this impacts future generations as well," Dabare said.