5 planes and 13 ships are out trying to track the aircraft, which was carrying 29 people on board.
Minister of State for Shipping Pon Radhakrishnan said the vessel had more than 32,000 tonne of oil and has been emptied.
In the second major anti-piracy operation off Lakshadweep in 10 days, the Indian Navy and the Coast Guard on Sunday apprehended 52 men including 28 suspected Somali pirates on board a ship after a brief gun-battle near the islands.
Italian Deputy Foreign Minister Stefan de Mistura on Thursday met the two arrested naval guards, charged with the killing of two Indian fishermen off Kerala coast, at nearby Wellington Island. He was accompanied by Italian Ambassador Giacomo Sanfelice, Consul General in Mumbai Giampaolo Cuttillo and the ship's captain. Mistura's meeting on Wednesday night with Chief Minister Oommen Chandy at Kottayam had failed to end the stand-off over the issue.
In the wake of Mumbai attacks, when terrorists used sea route to strike the city, the government today took a host of measures, including acquisition of ships, installation of radars and setting up of new coast guard stations, to strengthen security of coastal areas.
The impact of the oil spill off Mumbai on the marine life can be ascertained only after six months to a year, said well-known marine biologist Deepak Apte.
It has been also revealed that V G Siddhartha had written a letter to the Board of Directors and employees of Coffee Day Enterprises, saying he had 'failed as an entrepreneur'.
In a bizarre incident, a drunk Canadian man swam across the Detroit river from Canada to the United States and nearly returned the same way, but was stopped by international rescue teams and arrested for the stunt.
The ship carrying 14500 metric tonnes of iron ore had titled 50 degrees portside when it was six nautical miles from the port. The mishap was caused due to bad weather. The ship was sailing towards Zhavgiagang in China, informed Padam Shankar Jha, commandant of the coast guard ship Sankalp which finally saved the Chinese crew.
Meanwhile, in a statement, BP also said that the huge oil spill had so far cost the company $350 million.
Terrorists of various outfits, after being imparted training, could use sea routes to enter India, Defence Minister A K Antony said in reply to written questions.
On Thursday morning, Coast Guard officials rescued as many as 30 crewmembers from MV RAK, even as 3/4th of the 225 meters long vessel sunk into the choppy waters of the Arabian Sea. MV Rak was carrying 60,054 meteric tonne of coal. Toral Varia, brings you a blow-by-blow account of the rescue operation.
In a bid to prevent the use of the sea route by terrorists as in case of the Mumbai strikes, the Coast Guard has been asked to patrol the shoreline with locally hired fishing boats or trawlers. The task of guarding the Indian coastline has been entrusted to the Coast Guard. The responsibility of overall maritime security rests with the Indian Navy.Coastal states have also been told by the government to speed up implementation of the Coastal Security Scheme.
Sri Lanka's Navy has praised India for its help in countering the LTTE, and said the militant group's "backbone has been broken" after the destruction of several rebel vessels.
Indo-United States defence ties will not be impacted due to the issue relating to Indian diplomat Devayani Khobragade, Defence Minister AK Antony on Tuesday said.
The meeting attended by National Security Adviser M K Narayanan, Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta, Border Security Force Director-General M L Kumawat and representatives of Navy and Coast Guards had a detailed discussion on the situation along the coastline and the steps being taken to beef up security.
The Pakistani fishing boat apprehended by the Indian Coast Guard on Monday from the Kori Creek area in Kutch district with eight fishermen on board have been handed over to the district police, an official release from the Defence PRO said. Out of the eight people on board the boat, three were teenagers aged between 10 and 16 years, the release said.
If you watch the surge of emotions one thought clearly emerges that people are frustrated, desperate and wants things to change. They want to bury the chalta hai attitude.
In the wake of Mumbai attacks by terrorists who came by the sea route, the Centre on Friday decided to authorise the Coast Guard to check all the "suspicious merchant vessels" prior to entry at the country's ports.
The Indian Navy which intercepted and boarded the MV Alpha, a Vietnamese registered ship, let off the ship after questioning the crew and cheking the ship's papers, which were found to be in order. "The ship that was intercepted has been searched in accordance with international laws. Its papers were found in order and nothing suscpicous was found," said Captain Nambiar, PRO Defence, Mumbai.
Before he boarded the Amtrak train at New York's Penn station, the home minister learnt what novel security measures the New York Police Department, Coast Guard and the Federal Bureau of Investigation were taking to deal with possible terrorist attacks. In the wake of the terror attacks on Mumbai in November last year, the NYPD had incorporated changes to deal with similar attacks from the sea and on soft targets.
Essar Steel aims to participate in the indigenisation of products used in naval defence
The flood situation in Assam, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh showed signs of improvement on Sunday with most rivers receding even as heavy rains lashed parts of Goa, Rajasthan and Orissa.
At least 12 Pakistani nationals were arrested along with their two boats by the Border Security Force for illegally entering Indian waters near Padala creek in Koteshwar off Kutch in Gujarat.
The threat posed by maritime terrorism and infiltration along the vast stretches of the coastal belt was a matter of grave concern, with India having sensitive installations in close proximity to the sea.
According to reports, two boats are from Okha and three from Porbander.
As many as 327 army personnel committed suicide during this period
Govt wants domestic production so as to save foreign currency.
While the nation deliberates on how it deserves a seat in the United Nations' Security Council and flexes its nuclear muscle against China, an island nation is dictating where Indian fishermen can fish and shoots them at will. While Bensegar and 61 others were undergoing an ordeal, Indian Defence Minister A K Antony was giving a lecture on 'Terrorism from the sea' in New Delhi.
The body of Lt Kiran Shekhawat was on Thursday recovered from the fuselage of the ill-fated Dornier aircraft of the navy.
Intelligence officials on Wednesday questioned local fishermen to verify reports that their boats had been used by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to attack a Sri Lankan Navy vessel.
He is the first official to step down in the wake of criticism over government handling of the crisis.
In Jammu and Kashmir, compared to last year, the violence level had come down by 50 per cent, he said. The only concern now was of cross border militancy which was continuing even after three years of ceasefire, he added.
Antony was replying to a question on whether the government planned to put in place a truce with terrorist groups in the militancy-ravaged state during the ongoing month of Ramzan.
There has been an "exponential" rise in the seizure of drugs in India in the last five years with the darknet and the maritime route emerging as the most preferred modes of trafficking, NCB director general S N Pradhan said on Tuesday.
Krishna district bore the brunt of the massive tidal waves accounting for 35 deaths followed by Prakasam district (27), Nellore (12), Guntur (10), West Godavari (eight) and East Godavari (four).
The 18 crewmembers, consisting of 13 Iraqi nationals and five Indians, took the help of an onboard rescue boat and reached the nearby Creek.
The search for the missing Malaysian airliner under India's 'Operation Searchlight' has been expended to the Bay of Bengal area 900km west of Port Blair by the navy, the defence ministry said on Friday.
The Indian Air Force has always inspired awe. Here we take a brief look at the various career paths available the Indian Air Force offers and how you can scale the ranks.
