The ship has been in flames since May 20, the Coast Guard of India and the Sri Lankan Navy He’s been working hard in the days since to put out the flames.

Emissions from the cargo ship, which was loaded with 25 tons of nitric acid, lye and other chemicals, as well as 28 containers of microplastics, led to what authorities are calling the worst case of beach pollution in Sri Lanka ever.

Large amounts of microplastics, diesel and waste have already taken lives at sea and washed ashore on beaches.

The ship is also loaded with large quantities of oil, and Sri Lanka’s Maritime Protection Agency (MEPA) has warned that the sinking ship could cause a discharge disaster.

30 km of coastline, from the tourist area of ​​Negombo to Dikovita, may be affected, writes CNN.

On Wednesday morning, the ship began to sink, and authorities launched an operation to try to drag it out to sea, away from shore.

However, they had to give up trying, says the country’s Minister of Fisheries, Kanchana Wijesekera. The ship is now in Lake Lagombo.

– Emergency measures are implemented to protect the lake and its surroundings, reduce damage from waste or in the event of an oil spill, tells CNN.

Among other things, a ban on fishing was imposed in the area. to me guardian As many as 5,600 local fishing boats were affected by the accident.

– We can’t go out to sea, which means we can’t earn a living, Joshua Anthony, president of the Regional Association of Fishermen, tells the newspaper.

There were a total of 1,486 containers aboard the ship — 81 of which contained so-called “hazardous waste,” according to shipping company Ex-Press Feeders.

The ship was on its way from Gujarat in India to Colombo in Sri Lanka when the fire broke out on May 20. It was then nine nautical miles off the coast of Sri Lanka.

The authorities in the country have launched a criminal investigation to find out how the fire started.