Qatar, India and Sri Lanka made X-Press Pearl disaster inevitable

THAILAND : Russian national newspaper Novaya Gazeta published a report, an investigation into X-Press Pearl fire and disaster, based on available documents and reports, and interviews with seamen involved in the disaster. Of 25 crew of X-Press Pearl, 2 were Russian – Captain and Chief Engineer. Report is basically, a chronology of the disaster. Though in Russian, it may be read and well-understood via online translator, it’s not a philosophy study, it’s a statement of facts.

To put it all short – a faulty container with nitric acid was loaded in UAE, and started to leak. Master duly informed everybody and everything, but both Qatar and India ports of call refused to offload leaking container. When fire finally, erupts, Colombo Port Authorities, Sri Lankan Navy and Salvage, demonstrated a staggering lack of facilities, materials, professionalism and responsibility, and simply put, let the fire has its’ own way. Hence the inevitable disaster.
Later and up until now, it’s a farce and extortion, under the pretexts of “ecological disaster” and Captain/management “faults and mistakes”. The official versions Sri Lanka is presenting to public are indeed, lies upon lies replaced with other lies, mixed with obstructing proper investigation by means of hiding the documents and twisting available facts.
14 crew were allowed to leave the country, the remaining 11 are still in Sri Lanka, “under investigation” or whatever it is, including Captain, of course.

There’s absolutely nothing to be surprised at or even get angry – I’ve been writing for quite some time, that the oceans and the shipping, nowadays, are ruled by lawlessness, which spread around the world and embedded many nations, especially so-called “island” and developing nations. Each and every accident or disaster is immediately used as a gold mine, a source of insane extortions in form of “fines”, “damage recovery” costs, etc. Crews and ships are held as hostages, until shipowners are robbed clean. Everybody knows it, but to say it out loud is “politically incorrect”, so industry despicable “leaders” and fake media either support extortionist narrative, or at best, keep silence.

Evergreen case was basically, absolutely the same – the ship, the crew and multimillion cargoes on board were held hostages, until Egypt and Evergreen “achieved an agreement” – a “settlement”, which has nothing to do with real losses of Egypt (none, if basic logics are to be applied), and the cause of the grounding. Well, both sides are to be blamed for that accident, but it’s not the point – the point is, hostage situation is a regular practice, not an outrageous violation of laws, conventions and regulations.

Smart national SME owners already figured it all out, and try to rely on coastal trade mostly, avoiding international freights. It’s way too dangerous and unpredictable.

Source : Maritime Bulletin