Government Analyst Department officers and a team of officers from the CID yesterday inspected the MV X-Press Pearl vessel that caught fire off the coast of Colombo.
Police Spokesman, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Ajith Rohana said arrangements had been made for a team of officers from the Government Analyst Department and the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) to board the vessel with the assistance of the Navy.
The Sri Lanka Navy said in response to a request made by the Criminal Investigation Department it had facilitated the transfer of an investigation team to the location, in order to obtain seawater samples, conduct on-site monitoring and investigate the impact on marine environment due to the ship’s fire.
The Navy said the Sri Lanka Coast Guard Ship ‘Samudraraksha’ yesterday transferred a 14 member investigation team which included officials from the Government Analyst’s Department to the location, for their ongoing investigations.
Meanwhile, the Police media spokesman said the CID was also perusing emails between the ship’s Captain and the ship’s parent company and local agent since the Pearl’s departure from Singapore.
In particular, the CID will consider the instructions given there and the requests made by the Captain.
The Police Media Spokesman further stated that further statements regarding the containers of the chemical containers and the manner in which they were packed will be obtained through the statement of the relevant Chief Officer regarding the containers of the ship.
The CID has recorded 13 statements including that of the ship Captain and the Chief Officer. They have also recorded a statement from the Director General, Merchant Shipping regarding the incident.
