A writ petition has been filed before the Court of Appeal seeking an order for the government to conduct an impartial and independent inquiry into the fire onboard the X-Press Pearl vessel.
The petition was filed by three parties including the Centre for Environmental Justice.
16 individuals including the Central Environmental Authority, the Sri Lanka Ports Authority, its Chairman, Minister of Ports & Shipping Rohitha Abegunawardhana and Minister of Environment Mahinda Amaraweera were named as respondents.
The petitioners state the respondents had not yet taken steps to conduct an independent inquiry into the fire onboard the vessel. The petition stated the fire caused extensive maritime and environmental damage.
Accordingly, the petition seeks a writ order for the respondents to conduct an impartial and independent inquiry into the incident.
The petition further called for an order to be issued against the relevant shipping companies to take steps to remove various materials including plastic waste that sank and washed ashore due to the incident in an environmentally friendly manner.
