Crew members rescued from container ship reaches Bengal's Haldia port
Kolkata, June 15: The 22 crew members of merchant container vessel MV SSL Kolkata, who were rescued by the Indian Coast Guard after the ship caught fire in the Bay of Bengal, have safely reached the Coast Guard's Haldia port base in West Bengal, an officer said on Friday.
The crew members, picked up by Coast Guard ship Rajkiran, amid high seas and bad weather conditions, reached Haldia hours before midnight on Thursday, the official said.
Meanwhile, the devastating blaze that reportedly broke out on the container vessel on Wednesday night and engulfed around 70 percent of the ship is still on even as tugboats hired by the ship's manufacturerA Shreyas Shipping & Logistics continues to try to douse it.
"The ship is still burning. It has gone adrift near Bengal's Sagar Islands. The operation to douse the fire is on," a Coast Guard official said.
The Rajkiran crew and a Dornier aircraft of the Coast Guard deployed for locating the ship reached the accident spot on Thursday morning and rescued the captain and the crew members after they decided to abandon the ship.
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Russian First Deputy PM Manturov meets PM Modi; discusses trade, energy ties
New Delhi (PTI): Russia's First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov on Thursday called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and discussed ways to strengthen bilateral ties in areas of investment, energy and industrial cooperation.
Manturov, on a two-day visit to India, also held talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.
The Russian embassy said Modi and Manturov discussed "specific steps to implement agreements reached" during the India-Russia summit held in December last.
"Particular attention was paid to further strengthening Russia-India trade, economic, investment, energy and industrial cooperation," it said on social media.
In their meeting, Doval and Manturov were learnt to have discussed bilateral defence cooperation besides the evolving regional security situation.
The Russian first deputy PM's visit to New Delhi comes days after India cleared procurement of a fresh batch of five S-400 missile systems from Russia.
The decision to procure the additional batch of five S-400 air defence missile systems was taken against the backdrop of the missile system proving its capability during Operation Sindoor.
The missile system played a crucial role in India's dominance over Pakistan during the May 7-10 hostilities last year.
In October 2018, India had signed a USD 5 billion deal with Russia to buy five units of S-400 air defence missile systems, notwithstanding a warning by the US that going ahead with the contract may invite US sanctions under the provisions of Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).
Three squadrons have already been delivered.
In the talks, the two sides are also expected to exchange views on the West Asia conflict and its impact on global economy, especially on the energy sector.
It is learnt that both sides also reviewed the implementation of decisions taken at the summit talks between Prime Minister Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin in last December.
Following talks between the two leaders, India and Russia unveiled a raft of measures including a five-year roadmap to build a robust economic partnership and to increase the annual trade to USD 100 billion by 2030.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov last week lauded India's "independent foreign policy" and said that Russia looks forward to welcoming Prime Minister Modi for a visit this year.
In an address at a conference titled 'India and Russia: Towards a new bilateral agenda', he said the "time-tested" friendship between the two countries is a model on interstate relations based on mutual trust and respect.
