Reports in the Sri Lankan media suggest that a misstep by the Sri Lankan Government could have cost the country up to $25 million following a major fire on the Panama-flagged oil supertanker, the MT New Diamond. This is all due to a little known quirk in an obscure shipping law. Sri Lanka’s Attorney General has since reached out for $2 million to the owners and insurers of the vessel on 16 September, an amount ten times less.
Several countries had been involved in the dramatic vessel rescue two weeks ago, where a fire raged for several days following an onboard boiler explosion. Uncertainty continues as the heavily damaged vessel is towed to be inspected in the Bay of Bengal in India to understand the full extent of the damage.