Vital emails related to the sinking MV X-Press Pearl were deleted by its local agent, a Sri Lankan court was told on Monday (7th June 2021). The Singapore-registered ship had reported an on-board acid leak to its representative Sea Consortium Lanka who failed to alert local authorities, the state prosecutor told the court.

He also added that investigators had discovered that the Sea Consortium had deleted e-mail exchanges with the Russian skipper, Tyutkalo Vitaly.

The magistrate had asked a local agent to fetch originals of e-mails from servers located abroad. Magistrate Chalani Perera ordered the navy to protect the wreckage lying submerged outside the port of Colombo.