A Pawan Hans helicopter with seven people on board crashed into the sea near Mayabunder in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. All passengers and crew members were rescued and admitted to a hospital. A technical snag is suspected to be the cause of the crash.
In a significant move, state-run oil producer Oil India Limited (OIL) has finished drilling its first well in the Andaman sea while Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has just started drilling operations in the area, said officials.
The Supreme Court of India has questioned the legal status of Rohingya refugees living in the country, raising concerns about providing resources to illegal entrants while Indian citizens face poverty.
Oil India has discovered natural gas reserves off the Andaman Islands, the state-owned firm said without putting an estimate of the size of the find. In a statement, OIL said "occurrence of natural gas" was reported in the second exploratory well Vijayapuram-2 drilled in the Offshore Andaman Block AN-OSHP-2018/1, which the company had won under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP).
As the Northeast monsoon intensified across Tamil Nadu, the regional weather office issued heavy rainfall alert to a number of districts. Chief Minister M K Stalin reviewed the situation and directed precautionary measures.
The Supreme Court of India is set to determine whether Rohingya individuals in the country are to be considered refugees or illegal entrants, a crucial decision that will impact their rights and potential deportation.
An earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale hit the Andaman Sea on Thursday but the Met department ruled out tsunami.
The petitioner's counsel said his client was facing threats of arrest and torture in his country as he was a former Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam member, and that his wife and children had settled in India.
One of the refugees managed to contact the Rohingya Human Rights Initiative and give the coordinates which showed the ship drifting southeast of the Andaman Islands towards Aceh in Indonesia.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh also questioned the authenticity of materials placed before it by petitioner Mohd Ismail and others and refused to stay any further deportation of Rohingyas saying similar relief was denied by the court.
The quakes were of moderate intensity.
A probe into the biggest drug haul of 6,000 kg methamphetamine in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands has shown that the Myanmarese smugglers were using the Starlink satellite internet services for navigation through the mid-sea, a top police officer said on Thursday. Authorities suspect that the drug consignments may be linked to notorious international cartels, such as Tse Chi Lop's (the Chinese El Chapo) or Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes' (El Mencho) operations.
'We have not even used 0.1% of the available resources.'
If as critics point out, the environmental impact assessment study was commissioned only after the auction process got underway with not all the stakeholders getting to know of it, then the government has already compromised the trust it could have enjoyed with Kerala's public including its coastal communities, points out Shyam G Menon.
'He needs to see results while he is in office.'
Widespread rains lashed parts of Tamil Nadu on Thursday, prompting authorities to declare a holiday for schools in Chennai and many other districts.
According to weather officials, wind speeds along and off the Odisha-West Bengal coasts are anticipated to reach 60 km/h from October 23, increasing to 120 km/h from October 24 night to October 25 morning.
'This is the first case in which we saw use of Starlink by smugglers.'
Besides heavy traffic congestion, the intermittent heavy rains led to inundation in several parts of the city and neighbouring districts of Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram and Chengelpet.
After the west coast, another cyclone is likely to hit the east coast by May 26-27, the India meteorological department said on Wednesday.
Weather scientists attribute the early onset of southwest monsoon over Kerala to the influence of the remnants of cyclone Asani that triggered the cross-equatorial flow, a key factor for the seasonal rains.
He is currently on a two-day swing to the crucial State of Iowa. On January 15, Iowa would kick off the 2024 Republican presidential primary season.
The Southwest Monsoon is set to arrive early with the Andaman and Nicobar Islands expected to receive first seasonal showers on May 15, the weather office said on Thursday.
It said the weather system was expected to intensify into a deep depression by 5.30 am on Wednesday and turn into Cyclone Mocha in the next 12 hours, packing wind speeds of 80-90 kmph and gusting to 100 kmph.
The low-pressure area over the South Andaman Sea and adjoining southeast Bay of Bengal is very likely to move northwestwards and intensify into a depression by Saturday, the weather office said.
The weather system over the South Andaman Sea and the adjoining southeast Bay of Bengal is very likely to move north-westwards and strengthen into a depression by Saturday, the Met Department said.
Odisha is bracing for heavy rainfall early next week under the impact of a possible cyclone in the Bay of Bengal, which is likely to skirt the state and move towards West Bengal and Bangladesh, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Friday.
The southwest monsoon is likely to arrive over Kerala on May 31, a day earlier than its normal onset date, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
Conditions are becoming favourable for advance of southwest monsoon over the southern part of Andaman Sea, Nicobar Islands and adjoining southeast Bay of Bengal during May 18-19, the IMD said.
The sea conditions near the Odisha coast will become rough on May 9 and rougher on May 10.
The weather system moved west-northwestward and concentrated into a depression on Saturday at 8.30am, close to west of Andaman Islands, the bulletin said.
Search operations for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight with 239 people on board was on Wednesday extended to the Andaman Sea and India's help sought as international efforts to trace the aircraft that went missing five days ago yielded no breakthrough.
A fresh spell of heatwave is likely to begin over northwest India from May 7 and over central India from May 8, the India meteorological department said on Thursday.
The storm would continue to move north-northwestwards, intensify further and reach north Bay of Bengal near West Bengal and the adjoining north Odisha and Bangladesh coasts by the morning of May 26
Southwest monsoon, critical for the farm-based economy of the country, is expected to reach Kerala on May 30, two days before its normal onset date in the coastal state.
The system lay centered at 5.30 am over Southeast Bay of Bengal, about 450 km west-northwest of Car Nicobar (Nicobar Islands), 380 km west of Port Blair (Andaman Islands), 970 km southeast of Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and 1030 km south-southeast of Puri (Odisha).
A cyclonic circulation lies over the southeast Bay of Bengal and the adjoining south Andaman Sea extending up to middle tropospheric levels. Under its influence, a low pressure area is very likely to form over the southeast Bay of Bengal and neighbourhood during the next 24 hours.
The south-west monsoon, the lifeline of many farmers of the country, has set in the south Andaman Sea and the south-east Bay of Bengal a good five days in advance. Weather forecasters have predicted widespread rains over Andaman and Nicobar islands during the next three to four days and further strengthening of westerly winds in the region. India's 235 million farmers rely on the timing of the June-September monsoon season to decide which crops to grow.
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