A total of 118 turtles, 17 dolphins and four whales have died and washed ashore on Sri Lanka’s beaches in recent weeks, following the burning of the X-Press Pearl container ship, the Department of Wildlife Conservation said.

In a statement on Friday, the Department said that the initial post-mortem carried out on the dead marine species revealed the likely cause of death was due to the seepage of chemicals into the ocean resulting from the burning of the vessel.