Turtle carcasses wash ashore in Sri Lanka after ship fire

Post-mortem analysis on the carcasses is being performed at five government-run laboratories and separately by the Government Analysts Department, said an official from the wildlife department

A Sri Lankan policeman looks at a dead turtle that washed ashore in Colombo, Sri Lanka (Krishan Kariyawasam/AP)

Nearly a hundred carcasses of turtles with throat and shell damage, as well as a dozen dead dolphins and a blue whale, have washed ashore in Sri Lanka since a container ship burned and sank, raising fears of a severe marine disaster.

Ecologists believe the deaths were directly caused by the fire and release of hazardous chemicals while the Singapore-flagged X-Press Pearl burned for 12 days and sank last week off Sri Lanka’s main port in the capital Colombo.