A fireplace-striken Singapore-flagged cargo vessel laden with chemical substances began to sink on June 2 off Sri Lanka's major port, a senior navy official stated, fuelling extreme environmental considerations because the container ship nonetheless has a number of hundred tonnes of oil in its gas tanks. Water submerged the MV X-Press Pearl's rear finish a day after firefighters from Sri Lanka and India climbed onto the vessel and extinguished a blaze that had been burning for 12 days.