LITIGANTS DETERMINED TO OBTAIN COMPENSATION WHILE FISHERMEN WORRY OVER INJUSTICES

The refusal of payment of USD 1 billion as compensation for the damage caused by the MV X-Press Pearl disaster has sparked much outrage among the legal fraternity and petitioners that had been litigating against what was known to be one of the worst maritime disasters in recent history.

- By Kamanthi Wickramasinghe

In his comments made at an interview to AFP, CEO of Singapore-based shipping company Xpress Feeders Shmuel Yoskovitz said that the Supreme Court judgment undermines global maritime liability conventions and could set a dangerous precedent, risking higher insurance costs worldwide. While the government awaits Attorney General's opinion on the next steps to be taken, litigants and petitioners of the case demand the sole polluter of the incident to pay compensation. However, fisheries organisations representing fishermen and coastal communities affected by the incident argue whether the compensation process represented all affected fishermen.

How 'mysterious facts' delayed compensation

Having studied the case from its inception, Senior Maritime Lawyer Dr. Dan Malika Gunasekara had been talking about how the state could obtain damages. He was quite vocal about international maritime laws governing Sri Lankan waters, the damage caused to and how maximum compensation could be obtained.