Cargo Ship Carrying Chemicals Sinks off Sri Lanka

Cargo vessel MV X-Press Pearl registered from Singapore sank. Photograph: Sri Lankan Air Force Media Handout/EPA

A cargo ship carrying chemicals sank off the west coast of Sri Lanka. This is a horrible marine disaster and not the only bad one to occur in Sri Lanka's history.

The government ordered hundreds of soldiers to clean beaches, thousands of fishing boats have been effected when Wednesday fishing was suspended along 50 miles of the coastline. The MV X-Press Pearl left the port of Hazira in India on May 15th, on May 20th there was an explosion and fire which carried about 1,486 containers, with 25 tonnes of nitric acid, other dangerous chemicals, plastics and cosmetics.

And today reports say Iran's largest navy vessel sank in Gulf of Oman after catching fire.