On a request made by the Disaster Management Centre to the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and on the directives received to the Sri Lanka Air Force from the MOD the Commander of the Air Force, Air Marshal Sudarshana Pathirana instructed to deploy SLAF personnel to collect debris and clean the coastal areas affected by the ill-fated container ship, 'X-press Pearl'. As a result, more than 300 Air Force personnel from SLAF Base Katunayake launched a cleaning programme along the coastal belt area from Dungalpitiya to Pitipana (7Km), from 27 May 2021 onwards to prevent people from collecting harmful wreckages and floating items.