The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka today (24) ordered a shipping company to pay US$1 billion in compensation for the environmental and economic damage caused due to the fire onboard the X-Press Pearl vessel, Ada Derana reporter said.
The X-Press Pearl container vessel caught fire and sank off the coast of Colombo in 2021.Â
The incident is considered one of the worst environmental disasters in the country’s history.
According to the Supreme Court’s judgment, the compensation is to be paid to the Secretary to the Treasury.
The Supreme Court also held that the then Minister in charge of the subject, Nalaka Godahewa, and the Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA) violated fundamental human rights by failing to take appropriate action to prevent the environmental catastrophe.
The judgment was delivered by a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court, presided over by Chief Justice Justice Murdu Fernando.Â
The ruling was issued following the hearing of several fundamental rights petitions filed by various parties, including His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, Archbishop of Colombo.
