The MV X-Press Pearl container ship that was damaged by a fire that broke out while off Colombo is in danger of sinking, after an attempt was made to tow it into deeper waters, the Sri Lanka Navy announced today.

The ship had sailed from Gujarat, India and the fire broke out on May 20 when the MV X-Press Pearl was entering the port of Colombo. The fire was extinguished 13 days later with the help of the Indian Coast Guard and the company Smit.

Last week, Sri Lankan authorities announced that they estimated that the fire on the cargo ship was caused by a leak of nitric acid and the crew had been aware of it as early as May 11.

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The containers fell into the sea and the millions of pieces of polyethylene used to package products have covered 80 kilometers off the west coast of Sri Lanka. This is the biggest ecological disaster in the history of the country.