Cleanup crews on Sri Lanka’s west coast are still removing tiny plastic pellets from beaches five years after the container ship X-Press Pearl caught fire off Colombo. In Pamunugama, workers sift sand for the pellets, while fishers in nearby communities say changes to familiar fishing grounds have made it harder to earn a living.
Pollution persists beneath the sand
The Singapore-flagged vessel caught fire in May 2021 and sank in June. Its cargo included nitric acid and billions of plastic pellets, known as nurdles, which manufacturers melt down to make plastic goods. The UN Environment Programme described the spill as the largest of its kind on record at the time. In the weeks after the fire, dead turtles and dolphins washed ashore.
Researchers studying Sarakkuwa beach on the west coast found pellets and fragments of partly burnt plastic buried in the sand months after the spill. Fishers say rough seas during the monsoon bring more pellets ashore. X-Press Feeders, the vessel’s owner, acknowledges the environmental damage caused by the sinking but says other pellet spills in Sri Lankan waters make it difficult to attribute all the material collected today to the X-Press Pearl.
Fishing families wait for compensation
Around Negombo, fishers say catches at once-reliable sites have become less predictable. A fish farmer in the lagoon told the Guardian that pellets and other debris entered his pens after the spill, killing stock he had spent months raising. Fishers say some people affected by the temporary fishing ban missed out on interim payments because of how authorities classified claimants.
Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court ordered the companies behind the ship to pay an initial $1 billion in July 2025, with further compensation to be determined. X-Press Feeders disputes the ruling, and almost all of the court-ordered sum remains unpaid. For small-scale fishers, the dispute leaves open when they might receive further compensation for losses they say have continued well beyond the ban.
Newshub Editorial in Asia – 6 November 2026
Cleanup crews on Sri Lanka’s west coast are still removing tiny plastic pellets from beaches five years after the container ship X-Press Pearl caught fire off Colombo. In Pamunugama, workers sift sand for the pellets, while fishers in nearby communities say changes to familiar fishing grounds have made it harder to earn a living.
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