Police´s speaker Ajith Rohana, reported that the captain was arrested in a hotel in Colombo where he and other members of the crew had been detained, and would be charged in a Local High Court.

Rohana added that the Criminal Investigation Department had previously taped statements on the incident from him and others implicated like the ship´s Engineer Chief.

The X-Press Pearl, registered under Singapore´s flag carried a thousand 486 containers with 25 tons of nitric acid and several other chemical and cosmetic products.

The ship sent a distress call when sailing close to Colombo´s port on May 20 and soon caught fire.

After burning for 12 days, it sank on June 2 while being towed to deeper waters.

This incident caused a massive environmental disaster in the area since beaches from the southern to the western coast were damaged by the debris.

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