Drift and oil spill advisory issued after fire on container ship off Kerala coast
Kochi (PTI): The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) has issued advisories warning of drifting containers and a potential oil spill following a major fire on the Singapore-flagged cargo vessel Wan Hai 503.
The ship caught fire off the Kerala coast on June 9.
The ship, which was en route to Nhava Sheva, Mumbai from Colombo, experienced an explosion in one of its containers, sparking a massive onboard fire while sailing roughly 70 nautical miles off Kozhikode. The vessel is currently adrift.
In response, INCOIS activated its Search and Rescue Aid Tool (SARAT) to track possible drift patterns of containers, debris, or people who may have gone overboard.
According to the latest simulations, there is a 70–80 per cent probability that drifting objects may move south-southeastward from the incident site over the next three days.
"Simulations show that the containers are likely to continue to drift in the ocean for the next three days and might take longer to reach the beach. However, caution is advised about a few containers beaching between Kozhikode and Kochi. The situation is closely monitored and updated drift directions will be provided," INCOIS said in a statement.
Local authorities have been urged to step up coastal surveillance and prepare communities for possible navigational or shoreline hazards, it said.
In parallel, INCOIS also ran its Oil Spill Trajectory System, which models the movement of a hypothetical 100-ton bunker oil spill from the vessel.
Though the exact quantity of any spillage is still unknown, forecast simulations suggest the oil would drift parallel to the coastline from June 10 through June 13, with continuous monitoring underway.
"At approximately 1600 hours on 12 June, the spill is projected to maintain this trajectory. By 1600 hours on 13 June, the pollutant is expected to have progressed further in parallel direction along the coast," it said.
The advisory includes visual projections of potential oil movement, showing both floating and beached oil particles.
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Two arrested in K'taka for assaulting minors, uploading CSAM content
Bengaluru (PTI): Two men were arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting two minor girls, recording the acts on mobile phones and uploading the videos online as child sexual abuse material, police said on Thursday.
The accused have been identified as Kiran Kumar (29), hailing from Chitradurga district, and Aditya M K (20), hailing from Shivamogga district, they said.
A probe was initiated after information was received from the NCRP portal regarding a suspected instance of creation of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) for online dissemination, police said.
Accordingly, a case was registered at Kaggalipura Police Station under relevant sections of the IT Act on May 10, they added.
Investigation revealed that two minor girl victims were exploited and videos were created and uploaded to the internet. The child victims have subsequently recorded their statements as per procedure and further necessary legal steps have been taken, Pronab Mohanty Director General of Police, Cyber Command, said in a statement.
Based on the statements of the victims, the accused persons, who allegedly assaulted the minors, recorded the acts on mobile phones and uploaded the videos online, were arrested, he said.
Following the probe, sections 65(2) (rape) and 70 (gangrape) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with relevant sections of the POCSO Act, have been added to the FIR, police said.
Officials collected relevant information and on May 12, arrested the accused persons and seized three mobile phones belonging to them, in which the videos had allegedly been recorded, he said.
The accused were later produced before the court and taken into police custody for further investigation, he added.
According to him, in CSAM cases, police usually apprehend offenders who have downloaded such content or have kept them in their possession after obtaining them from elsewhere, usually the internet.
"The present case is one of the very few instances where content creators and uploaders have been apprehended," Mohanty added.
