Coast Guard

Goa: Two fishermen dead, 4 missing as trawler collides with ship

Mumbai/Panaji: In a mishap off south Goa-Karwar coast, two fishermen died and four others went missing after a ship collided with a fishing trawler on Thursday morning.

"We have rescued 23 crew members of trawler 'Sea Messiah' while four are still missing and bodies of two fishermen were fished out in the evening," said a Coast Guard official, who added that incident happened 47 nautical miles off Karwar coast.

While fishermen claimed that it was an Indian Navy vessel with weapons mounted which hit the trawler, Navy sources said no naval vessel was present in the radius of 100 nautical miles at the time.

One of the crew members said that distress call could not be given out because the impact broke the trawler, which had left Cutbona fishing jetty in south Goa last night, into two. Krishna Shivpundi, a crew member, said the trawler was illuminated well enough for any ship to notice it when the accident happened....more    

AgustaWestland submits bids for 2 military chopper tenders

New Delhi: Notwithstanding the prospect of being blacklisted over the VVIP chopper scam, Anglo-Italian firm AgustaWestland has submitted its bid for two military tenders to supply helicopters to the Navy and the Coast Guard. The firm has submitted its response to Indian Navy's tender for procuring 56 naval utility helicopters and Coast Guard's Request for Proposal (RFP) for buying 14 medium-lift choppers, defence sources said. In the naval tender for...  

Mumbai: Vessel with banned satellite phones intercepted

Mumbai: The Coast Guard on Thursday took into custody a suspicious vessel, MSV Yusufi, after it allegedly intercepted calls made through the banned Thuraya satellite phones. The Coast Guard took into its custody five people who were on board the ship that came from Dubai on Tuesday. The five men aboard the vessel were handed over to the Mumbai Police later on. Thuraya phones, apart from being frequently used by...  

Govt scraps Coast Guard tender for choppers

New Delhi: Coast Guard's plan to boost its maritime surveillance capabilities will have to wait as the Defence Ministry has scrapped its tender to procure 16 light helicopters. Only two companies - Indian Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), offering its ALH Dhruv, and European Eurocopter with its twin-engine Panther MB - were in the race for the deal expected to be worth over Rs 1,000 crore. The tender, issued in July...  

Mumbai ship fire: 'Hazardous cargo a challenge to rescue ops'

Inflammable gases on the ship are posing a challenge to the firefighting operations, MV Baadkar, the Chief of the Western Coast Guard, said. ...

Andaman: MoD proposals threaten endangered birds

New Delhi: The Narcondam Hornbill is found at only one place in the world - Narcondam, in the Andamans. The Nicobar Megapod, a wingless bird, is found in the Tillanchong Sanctuary, again in the Andamans. Both these birds and the fragile ecology of the Andamans are now facing a direct threat from proposals floated by the Coast Guard and the Indian Navy. The Navy wants to construct a structure for...  

Coast Guard boat kills TN fisherman

RAMESWARAM: Kalvin (18), a fisherman from Pamban, drowned while four others escaped when a Coast Guard (CG) patrol boat allegedly hit the country boat in which the group were fishing 11 nautical miles off the Pamban coast on Thursday night.Other fishermen in the area, on hearing the noise caused by the accident, rescued Sathiyan, Aruldass, Bose and Innasi, who were struggling for life in the sea. On Thursday, the five...  

Hunt on for ship that hit boat off Kerala coast

Thiruvananthapuram: The Indian Coast Guard and Indian Navy have launched a search operation to trace the ship which collided with a shipping boat at the high seas off the Kochi-Alleppey coast killing at least two fishermen. Four ships and a Dornier aircraft have been deployed to trace the ship involved. "INS Sarvekshak from Southern Naval Command and ICGS Savitribai Phule who were at sea were diverted to the area while...  

No out of court settlement in fishermen case: Chandy

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government on Wednesday ruled out the possibility of any out of court settlement in the case relating to the killing of two Indian fishermen by two Italian marines onboard a merchant ship. "There is no provision in Indian criminal law to have an out of court settlement on charges of murder," Chief Minister Oommen Chandy told mediapersons after a cabinet meeting to questions about reports that Italian...  

Fishermen killing: Court rejects Italy's plea

Kochi: A Kollam court on Wednesday dismissed a petition filed by Italy in connection with the killing of two Indian fishermen off the Kochi coast. Italy had sought permission to allow presence of their forensic experts during the examination of the weapons recovered from the ship. This came a day after the Italian Foreign Minister met his Indian counterpart SM Krishna over the alleged killings of the fishermen by Italian...  

Vessel's weapon room resembled military armoury

Kochi: The Italian weapons were protected in two vaults in the Italian vessel, Enrica Lexie. Though the marines were in the ship to safeguard the vessel, the weapon room resembled a perfect Military armoury. One of the police personnel who was a part of the search and seizure procedure said that, the Italians had perfectly documented all the weapons. "Even the small bullets had been documented and they were accounted...  

Firing probe: Italian guards sent to police custody for 3 days

The two accused were produced at the magistrate's home, with a swarm of policemen on alert as Congress, BJP and Left workers protested outside. ...

Firing probe: Italian crew sent to police custody

Kollam: A Kollam court on Monday remanded the two Italian Naval guards, accused of killing two Indian fishermen, in judicial custody for two weeks till March 5 and sent them to police custody for three days. The Italian marines were taken back to Cochin for further investigation. In court, the Italians argued that the shooting took place 33 nautical miles out in the sea, which is outside India's territorial water...  

Firing probe: Italian crew produced in court

New Delhi: Five days after two Indian fishermen were killed in firing from their cargo ship off Kerala coast, two Italian Naval guards were on Monday produced at the House of Magistrate in Kollam. Youth Congress and BJP workers were seen protesting outside the Magistrate's residence in Kollam. Earlier, Italian lawyers claimed that they have begun a separate probe into the alleged killings of two Indian fishermen in Italy and...  

Ship probe: Italian delegation meets MEA officials

Police on Sunday questioned two Italian crew members over the killing of the Indian fishermen, but their surrender is delayed. ...

We take fishermen death incident very seriously: Antony

The Defence Minister, refused to give more details in the incident, in which guards on an Italian ship fired at and killed two Indian fishermen. ...

Fishermen deaths: Antony remains silent

Kochi: Defence Minister AK Antony said on Friday that investigations were on in the Kochi firing incident where guards on an Italian ship fired at and killed two Indian fishermen off the coast of Kochi. "They are questioning all the people involved." He, however, refused to give more details. "Giving more details is not appropriate. We take this issue very seriously, What happened was against the law, against all norms....  

Indians killed: Italian ship crew detained

Kochi: Kerala Police on Friday detained several members of the Enrica Lexie crew, who were accused of shooting dead two Indian fishermen off the coast of Kochi. "Vital information is yet to be collected from the ship. Six security guards on the ship are considered to be from the Italian Navy as per the information they have. These crew members will be arrested and produced in the court only after...  

Indian fishermen mistaken for pirates, shot dead

Kochi: Two fishermen, one each from Kerala and Tamil Nadu, in a fishing boat were on Wednesday shot dead by security officials of an Italian cargo vessel in the deep sea after being mistaken for pirates, an official said. Sources in Indian Navy said that the ship was in international waters. Sources also said that the fishermen shot by Italian Naval personnel on-board the tanker. Normally shooting is only for...  

'Get back on board, damn it!' T-shirts a hit

Rome: A coast guard officer's 'Get back on board damn it!' order to the fleeing captain of the capsized Costa Concordia liner is being printed on T-shirts by a company hoping to inspire Italians to rescue their country from economic crisis. Italians have made a hero of coast guard officer Gregorio De Falco for his angry exchange with skipper Francesco Schettino - who has been blamed for the accident and...