‘Nurdles are everywhere’: how plastic pellets ravaged a Sri Lankan paradise

The country's golden beaches have turned black as debris released from a sunken ship continues to wreak environmental and economic havoc

When Adnan Sheikh took his family on holiday to Sri Lanka last October, he booked them into a hotel for two weeks in Sarakkuwa beach, just off the coast from where the X-Press Pearl cargo ship caught fire and sank five months previously.

Sheikh had been charmed by the online pictures of golden sandy beaches. But when the family arrived, it was a different story.