Ship on Fire, Colombo Sri Lanka

[BruceK]

An ecological disaster looms off Sri Lanka as a freighter loaded with plastic pellets burns. The ship was waiting to enter Colombo when fire broke out 10 days ago.
Sri Lanka is a beautiful but poor country which suffered from civil war for years. We had the privilege of touring there years ago during a lull in warfare.
I hope a solution can be found but fear the problem is too advanced.

For more detail:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05...rst-beach-pollution-from-burnt-ship/100176806

 

[Northern Spy]

How sad. Spent a few days in the Negombo area at the start of our time in Sri Lanka. The size (and smell) of the fish market/fish drying beach there was amazing.

Lovely country. You would think if this happened offshore near a more developed country there would be more aerial drops of retardant; but maybe it isn't effective. Burning plastic and microplastic contamination appears to be worse than an oil spill in many aspects.

Based on the inability to effectively manage the current amount of domestic plastic garbage in the Negombo lagoon and beaches, this new massive source of pollution is really going to be devastating.

 

[Woodland Hills]

The yellow sand beaches of Unawatuna, where we stayed in the 1980’s are now snow-white with plastic beads. This is not microplastic but actual tiny beads used as raw material for molding.