The fire onboard Merchant Tanker (MT) Orchid containing 24,000 tonnes of gasoline has been doused. Fortunately, none of the 29 Indian crew members have suffered any injuries.
“The fire on the merchant tanker has been put out and the vessel is sailing towards its destination Kochi. There has not been any oil spill from the tanker due to the incident,” said a Coast Guard officer.
“No casualties have been reported in the incident that occurred last evening,” said Captain Manohar Nambiar, chief public relations officer, defence, Mumbai.
At the time of going to press on Sunday, a Coast Guard ship was in the vicinity of the MT Orchid.
The Indian-flagged MT Orchid had caught fire on Saturday evening. The worst was feared, as the vessel had fuel as its cargo and could have turned into a ball of fire any moment, not to mention the possibility of an oil spill in the Arabian Sea. At the time of the incident, the ship was located 40 nautical miles off Kannur in Kerala.
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Don’t have black money: Ex-CJI
age CORRESPONDENT
Kochi
May 8: Even as the income-tax department is finalising its probe report on the disproportionate assets cases against his sons-in-law, former Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan’s on Sunday said not even a paisa of black money was seized from any of his relatives till now.
He told a news channel that I-T sleuths could not come up with any evidence against his sons-in-law or any other kin.
“How can they term 30 cents of land as a huge asset,’’ he asked. “Did they get even a paisa of black money from my family?”
The ex-Chief Justice was referring to the I-T commissioner E.T. Lukose’s claim that the department was convinced about possibility of black money in possession of KGB’s kin.
About the land in Tamil Nadu, Justice Balakrishnan said anyone could buy land for `500 per cent in Tamil Nadu. “You don’t need a mountain of cash for that,” he said.