(COLOMBO) – Sri Lanka is to investigate reported hazardous material on board the Singapore-flagged vessel ‘Dali’ that crashed into the Francis Key Scott bridge, Baltimore in the US, as it was heading for Colombo, the island-nation’s Parliament was told on Tuesday.
“The Central Environment Authority has not been informed of any hazardous cargo on board the Dali,” Janaka Wakkumbura, the State Minister of Environment, told the Assembly.
He said both the Sri Lanka Customs and the Colombo Port Authority have been instructed to carry out a probe into the matter.
Wakkumbura was responding to a question from Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa who asked if permission had been granted to unload such a cargo at the Colombo port.
Port officials said the ship was due to reach Colombo on April 22 and the information on its cargo would only have been known 48 hours before its arrival.
The Central Environment Authority officials said its approval was a must even if unloading in Colombo was limited to transshipment of cargo.
Unverified reports surfing in Colombo suggests that the owner of a leading super market chain in the country and other businesses was the alleged importer.
Some three years ago another leading Sri Lanka businessman with connections to the higher echelons of Government was also accused for allegedly importing several tons of hospital and other waste into the country with the alleged connivance of corrupt Customs officials and other State actors.
This issue was also brought up for discussion in parliament. See video below.
Opposition Leader of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya MP Sajith Premadasa speaking on this subject in parliament.
