X-Press Pearl had been denied entry to India and Qatar before fire erupted

Photo: Sri Lanka Ports Authority

Fantastic reporting from the team at Splash247, which has discovered that the master and crew of the fire-stricken X-Press Pearl had detected acid leaking from one of the containers not long after it had departed Hazira. They requested returning to Hazira or calling at Hamad in Qatar to unload. Both requests were denied, which is likely to reopen the debate about ports of refuge and their responsibility to vessels in distress. “This disaster could have been prevented had those ports done their duty and taken in the cargo rather than endangering the crew and the ship.”