COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Experts have recovered the data recorder of a fire-ravaged ship carrying chemicals that is slowly sinking off Sri Lanka’s capital while salvage crews stand by to head off a possible environmental disaster. The Singapore-flagged MV X-Press Pearl started sinking Wednesday, a day after authorities extinguished a fire that raged on the vessel for 12 days. Efforts to tow the ship into deeper waters away from the port in Colombo had failed after the ship’s stern became submerged and rested on the seabed. Sri Lanka Ports Authority says there’s no sign of any leaks of chemicals or oil. But debris — including several tons of plastic pellets used to make plastic bags — has already washed ashore and the government has banned fishing.
