Explosion on burning container ship carrying Nitric Acid injures 2

An explosion was reported on a container ship off the port of Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Tuesday, days after a fire broke out on the vessel, which is carrying 25 tonnes of nitric acid. Black smoke poured from the Singapore-flagged X Press Pearl. The fire first broke out on Thursday, May 20, before the situation deteriorated. Singapore’s Daily Mirror reported that all 25 crew were evacuated and that two had been hospitalised with injuries. The explosion sent several containers into the sea, the Mirror said. Sri Lankan authorities expanded operations to put out a fire on a burning container ship off the coast of Colombo on Tuesday. All crew were evacuated from the vessel after a fire onboard intensified and injured two crew members, a spokesman for Sri Lankan Navy said. The MV X-Press Pearl, a container vessel sailing with a Singaporean flag and carrying cosmetics and chemicals including 25 tonnes of nitric acid, was anchored off the Colombo harbour when a container caught fire on Friday (May 21), officials sa