Tonnes of plastic waste from a burning container ship is washing ashore in Sri Lanka in what’s seemingly the nation’s worst seashore air pollution disaster up to now, a senior environmental official instructed AFP on Saturday.

Hundreds of army and safety personnel in hazmat fits have been combing a stretch of coast close to the Port of Colombo for particles as a world firefighting operation continues to douse flames aboard the MV X-Press Pearl. The Singapore-registered container ship caught hearth on Might 20 following an onboard explosion because it waited to enter the harbor. Amongst its cargo consists of 25 tonnes of nitric acid, 278 tonnes of bunker oil, and no less than 28 containers of polyethylene pellets, a uncooked materials used within the packaging trade, officers mentioned.

“There’s smoke and intermittent flames seen from the ship,” Navy spokesperson Captain Indika de Silva mentioned in a press release to AFP. “Nonetheless, the vessel is steady and it’s nonetheless in anchorage.”

Extra regarding, although, are the hundreds of thousands of pellets washing ashore from cargo that fell off the ship. Bulldozers have been deployed to help in clean-up efforts. Fishermen are quickly banned from a roughly 50-mile (80-km) stretch of coast close to the ship as a security precaution, and authorities fear that hundreds of jobs within the trade could also be in danger. The affected shoreline can be dwelling to a number of vacationer seashores, making the specter of an oil leak much more devastating. Consultants are nonetheless assessing the affect on mangroves, lagoons, and native marine wildlife species, AFP experiences.

“That is most likely the worst seashore air pollution in our historical past,” mentioned Dharshani Lahandapura, head of Sri Lanka’s Marine Setting and Safety Authority, in a press release to the outlet.

Authorities now suspect the explosion was brought on by a nitric acid leak on board, which the crew had been conscious of since Might 11, in line with AFP. Rescue operations have evacuated all crew members, Reuters reported earlier this week.