The Sri Lanka Navy’s Eastern Naval Command held a multi-agency chemical emergency response exercise at Trincomalee Harbour on March 31, the Navy said in a statement released this week.
The drill was organised by the command’s Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Unit and brought together the Disaster Management Centre in Trincomalee, the Sri Lanka Ports Authority, the Marine Environment Protection Authority, the Fire Service Department, China Bay Police, the Air Force Academy at China Bay and the Army’s 22nd Infantry Division.
Theoretical sessions covered the identification of chemical hazards, the handling and neutralisation of toxic substances, medical treatment of affected personnel and broader CBRN threat awareness. Practical sessions focused on personal protective equipment, safe evacuation of a contaminated area and hazardous waste disposal procedures.
The Navy described the exercise as part of routine preparedness work and said it was aimed at “strengthening resilience against different forms of threats” through joint inter-agency response.
Trincomalee, one of the world’s largest natural deep-water harbours, is a critical hub for commercial shipping, naval operations and petroleum storage. It is also where the Iranian naval vessel IRIS Bushehr has been interned since early March after being escorted in under a legal hold, though the Navy did not link the exercise to that incident or to the wider Hormuz crisis.
