Singapore vessel on fire towed further out to sea as firefighting continues
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Kochi (PTI): Amidst the firefighting operation aboard the Singapore-flagged cargo ship, which caught fire earlier this week off the Kerala coast en route to Mumbai from Colombo, it was towed farther away from the coastline on Saturday morning, defence sources said.
The vessel -- MV Wan Hai 503 -- has been towed 40 nautical miles away from land. Earlier, the ship was 27 nautical miles from land, they said.
According to a defence statement, the towing operation was initiated with a Seaking helicopter from the Southern Naval Command winching down salvors to shift the tow cables from the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) ships to the tug vessels.
"The towing operations have commenced. Due to heavy weather, towing speed is restricted to 1.5 knots," it said.
"ICG Ships Saksham, Samarth, Vikram, and IN Ship Sharda, OSV Triton Liberty are escorting the towing vessels. Towing is being undertaken by Tug Offshore Warrior, Garnett and Water Lily," a defence statement, on social media platform X, said.
"Fire fighting operation continues," it added.
The Singapore-flagged vessel had caught fire after one of the containers aboard it exploded.
On Thursday, the Directorate General of Shipping had said that 40 per cent of the fire had been brought under control.
Of the 22 crew members on board the vessel, 18 were rescued while four remain missing.
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MediaOne TV Facebook page restored after block linked to ‘government request’
Kochi: The official Facebook page of Malayalam news channel MediaOne TV has been restored after being blocked without prior notice, the broadcaster said on Wednesday.
The channel was quoted by Maktoob as saying that the restriction was lifted automatically, with Meta Platforms informing it that the action had been taken following a “government request” which has now expired or been reversed.
The development came shortly after the channel approached the Kerala High Court challenging the blocking of its page, terming it arbitrary and in violation of legal provisions and judicial precedents. The High Court had issued notice to Meta via email hours before the restriction was withdrawn.
In its petition, the channel said access to its Facebook page had been restricted for users in India without citing any specific content or alleged violation. It contended that while individual posts may be taken down under applicable a rule, blocking an entire page goes beyond the scope of such measures.
The incident followed an earlier action taken against the channel in 2022, when the Ministry of Information and transmitting prohibited it from transmitting. It cited national security concerns regarding the Ministry of Home Affairs' refusal of security clearance.
The Supreme Court of India in April 2023 set aside the ban, observing that national security claims cannot be made without substantive basis and that criticism of government policies does not render a media outlet anti-national.
