Sri Lanka Disaster Could be Devastating for Endangered Turtles, Migratory Whales On 6/3/21 at 6:25 PM EDT Environmental experts are concerned that the sinking of a cargo ship off the coast of Sri Lanka on Wednesday could spell devastation for local wildlife including migratory whales and sea turtles. The X-Press Pearl, which was carrying a large amount of harmful cargo including nitric acid and plastic, began to sink while it was being towed not long after a fire that had been burning for 12 days was finally extinguished. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) told Newsweek on Thursday that pollution from the plastic in particular, tiny pellets known as "nurdles" that are the raw material used to produce plastic products, would "have immediate and long-term effects" on the local ecosystem.