US-based Indian couple, scientist killed in California boat fire
Los Angles, Sep 7: A US-based Indian couple and an Indian-origin scientist were among those who died from smoke inhalation when they were trapped on a boat packed with scuba divers that caught fire and sank off the California coast, according to media reports.
On Monday, a massive fire broke out on the 75-foot charter boat called 'Conception' when the passengers were sleeping below the deck. The fire engulfed the deck, killing 34 people, including one crew member. Five crew members who were above the deck escaped by jumping overboard.
The couple, Kaustubh Nirmal and Sanjeeri Deopujari, lived in Connecticut and were among the people who died aboard the vessel, during a three-day diving excursion.
Deopujari, 31, was a dentist in Norwalk while her husband, Nirmal, 44, worked as a senior adviser at Ernst & Young, the New York Post reported.
The were married two and a half years ago and were "the perfect couple," said Nirmal's cousin, Rajul Sharma, told the Los Angeles Times.
"He found a soulmate in Sanjeeri," Sharma said, recalling their endearing and infectious smiles.
"God took them away from us untimely and unfairly, but even he did not have the heart to separate them in death," he said.
Neighbours at the couple's apartment building remembered them.
"They were very nice, kind. So we're in shock. Our hearts go out to them. It's incredibly sad," a neighbour said.
Indian-origin scientist Sunil Singh Sandhu, 46, was also there on a dive vessel that sank off Santa Barbara in California.
Sandhu lived and worked in the US for more than two decades, took up scuba diving only recently, his family in Singapore was quoted as saying by Singapore-based The New Paper.
Sandhu earned his master's and doctoral degrees from the Stanford University and worked as a scientist at a Palo Alto research company.
He was a newcomer to scuba diving, picking up the sport two months before his death. "I didn't know that he was going for another trip," his father, Soji Singh said.
"I had been trying to persuade him to come back to Singapore."
The massive fire was reported to be one of California's worst maritime disasters in decades.
More than half of the victims have been positively identified a process hampered by how badly burned some were, the report said.
The ship carried 33 passengers and 6 crew members, and only five of the crew sleeping on the top deck were able to escape by jumping off and taking a small boat to safety, the US officials had said.
Multiple investigations into the disaster are focused on determining what happened and have not become a criminal probe, Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said.
Families of those killed have been notified.
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Rupee falls 5 paise to 90.22 against US dollar in early trade
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee weakened by 5 paise to 90.22 against the US dollar in early trade on Tuesday, amid a strengthening American currency, higher crude oil prices and incessant outflow of foreign funds.
An unprecedented geopolitical concern and global trade uncertainties have accelerated the dollar demand worldwide, adding strength to the greenback and putting pressure on the Indian currency, analysts said.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 90.24 and gained slightly to trade at 90.22 against the greenback in early deals, registering a loss of 5 paise from its previous closing level.
On Monday, the rupee ended 1 paisa higher at 90.17 against the US dollar.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which measures the strength of the greenback against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.11 per cent higher at 98.73.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading 0.28 per cent higher at USD 64.05 per barrel in futures trade.
Foreign institutional investors offloaded equities worth Rs 3,638.40 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share benchmark index Sensex rose 125.96 points or 0.15 per cent to 84,004.13, while the Nifty advanced 47.25 points or 0.18 per cent to 25,837.50.
Analysts attributed the buying trend in equities to the positive cues triggered by strong domestic macroeconomic numbers.
According to government data released on Monday, India's retail inflation rose to a three-month high of 1.33 per cent in December, mainly due to higher prices of food items, but remained below the Reserve Bank of India's lower tolerance level.
Also, the latest data from the Income Tax Department showed the government's net direct tax collection grew about 8.82 per cent to over Rs 18.38 lakh crore in the current fiscal till January 11 due to slower refunds and better corporate tax mop-up.
Net corporate tax collection grew 12.4 per cent to over Rs 8.63 lakh crore, and taxes from non-corporates, including individuals, rose 6.39 per cent to about Rs 9.30 lakh crore.
