EU experts to assess environmental damage caused by Sri Lanka shipwreck

Sri Lankan sailors clean up debris from the container ship on beaches near Colombo (Eranga Jayawardena/AP)

A team of technical experts from the European Union are helping Sri Lanka’s government assess the environmental damage caused by the sinking of a container ship that was carrying chemicals and caught fire, the government has said.

The experts held discussions with top Sri Lankan officials and stakeholders on Friday, a day after the Singapore-flagged MV X-Press Pearl ship sank off the country’s main port and nearly a month after the vessel caught fire.