China lauds India's swift response in rescuing crew from cargo ship fire off Kerala coast, ET Infra
Advt
Advt
Following an onboard explosion and fire aboard MV Wan Hai 503 off the coast of Kerala, China, expressed gratitude to Indian authorities for their swift and professional rescue efforts.Spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Indian, Yu Jing, in a post on X said, "On June 9, MV Wan Hai 503 encountered an onboard explosion and fire 44 nautical miles off Azhikkal, Kerala. Of the total 22 crew members on board, 14 are Chinese, including 6 from Taiwan. Our gratitude goes to the Indian Navy @indiannavy and the Mumbai Coast Guard for their prompt and professional rescue. We wish further search operations successful and the injured crew members a speedy recovery."The Chinese Embassy's statement came after an explosion under deck was reported aboard MV Wan Hai 503 while it was en route from Colombo to Nhava Sheva. Four crew members were reported missing and five injured in the incident. Indian Coast Guard ships have since been deployed for firefighting and rescue operations.The vessel was carrying containerised cargo and had a total of 22 crew members onboard. CGDO on task diverted for assessment.Indian Coast Guard units were immediately diverted for assessment and assistance. ICGS Rajdoot off New Mangalore, ICGS Arnvesh off Kochi, and ICGS Sachet off Agatti have been diverted for assistance.In a post on X, the Indian Coast Guard said an ICG aircraft assessed the scene and dropped an air-droppable."Quick response by India Coast Guard after explosion on Singapore-flagged MV WAN HAI 503, 130 NM NW of Kerala coast. ICG aircraft assessed the scene & dropped air-droppable. 04 ICG ships diverted for rescue."Fires and explosions have been reported from mid-ships to the container bay ahead of the accommodation block. The forward-bay fire is under control, but thick smoke continues to be observed. The vessel is listing approximately 10-15 degrees to port, and additional containers have been reported overboard.Indian Coast Guard ships Samudra Prahari and Sachet are conducting fire-fighting operations and boundary cooling, while ICG ship Samarth is being deployed from Kochi. Further updates will follow, the Coast Guard added.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
India Today
20 minutes ago
- India Today
How Caste, a word of Spanish origin, redefined Indian social order during British rule
One word that still thrives in India and continues to challenge society is caste. The word originated in Spain and was later used by Portuguese, and it was the British who institutionalised it within the Indian derived from casta, is now deeply linked with India's ancient social structure, the varna system, in which esoteric individuals based on the work performed and, by extension, their place in per the Rig Veda, the varna system divided society into four main groups: Brahmins, the learned class; Kshatriyas, the rulers and warriors; Vaishyas, the merchants and landowners; and Shudras, those who did manual labour. Outside this structure were those considered 'untouchables.' The first official Indian census was conducted in 1871, well before independence. It recorded over 2,500 castes. These caste listings included all professions -- for example, Sonar, a term for goldsmiths, was listed as a backward the 1931 census, the number of recorded castes had risen to over 3,000. This was the last time a caste-based census was held -- pre- or though caste -- a word not native to Indian soil -- became the most defining social construct of the land, shaping society for over two centuries, how did this happen? What changed and divided Indian society so deeply that it is now difficult to separate from it?advertisementWas Indian society fragile from the beginning, or did it evolve over time, with the differentiation of work and social categories outlined in the varna system becoming more rigid? These are the questions scholars and academics have long sought to answer. Specimen of various described castes(Image: Wikimedia Commons) VARNA, JATI, AND CASTEThe varna system, as mentioned in the Rig Veda, is thousands of years old and outlines how society and work were structured. Though there were four main varnas, epics like the Mahabharata and Ramayana offer examples of how these identities could born a Kshatriya, was later revered as a Rishi due to his conduct. The story of Eklavya is often cited -- denied training by Dronacharya due to his varna, Eklavya's father, Hiranyadhanu, nonetheless served in King Jarasandha's army, showing that lower-caste individuals were not excluded from warfare or Indian texts, jati -- meaning birth -- is often mentioned less often than varna, but the concept is more complex. While varna divided society into four broad categories, jatis represented thousands of lineage- or occupation-based groups, though endogamous (a practice of marrying or mating within a specific group, such as a caste, ethnic group, religious group), varied across Dumont, a French anthropologist, linked jatis to religious purity and pollution, but others argue their origins are more secular, rooted in economics, politics, and jatis are often associated with jobs, they have not strictly limited occupational roles. Genetic studies suggest jatis practiced endogamy since the Gupta period, possibly are not exclusive to Hindus -- they are found among Muslims, Christians, and tribal populations, without one single hierarchical English word caste, now so commonly used in the Indian context, did not originate here. It came by way of Portugal. When the Portuguese first made landfall in India in the year 1498, they applied word 'casta' -- a term used for lineage or stock -- to describe the many birth-bound communities they English language took this word in by 1613, and it Sumit Guha, in his account Beyond Caste, writes of how Portuguese became a seafaring tongue, spoken in distant corners of Asia. Through this language, the West began to make sense of Indian life or tried time, the British would carry out that task further. Guha notes that 'casta' spoke first of blood -- of purity in animals, then people which derived from the concept of purity of blood, limpieza de imagined that a community's worth could be preserved by guarding the bloodline, especially through the modesty of its women. Dr Ambedkar with the leaders of 'Scheduled Caste Federation'. Scheduled Caste Federation Conference, Nagpur (Image: Wikimedia Commons) Anthropologist Morton Klass reminds us that there is no true match for the word caste in any Indian tongue. The Iberians, shaped by their own worldviews and prejudices, used casta to rank peoples they met -- first in Asia, then in the the Brisitsh engaged more with Indian society, they began to see it through their own them, India's jatis seemed like ordered groups, made to preserve ancestry. This view suited the world they came from -- a world where bloodlines and hierarchies mattered Portugal and Spain were deep in the trade of enslaved people only made such ideas more historian Charles Boxer once observed that the beliefs the Iberians carried -- whether by sea, cross, or sword -- did not fade quickly. For many years, race and rank walked hand in hand. The echoes, perhaps, still CASTE CENSUS AND ORIGIN OF NEW JATISWhen the British arrived in India, they stepped into a land full of rich traditions, local customs, and complex social networks. After centuries of invasions and changes in power, Indian society had become layered and diverse -- very different from what the ancient texts once community had its own way of life, and it was unlike anything the British had dealt with make sense of this diversity and to rule more efficiently, the British started recording details about the people. This led to the first complete census of India in 1871. It wasn't just about counting people -- it was about sorting them into groups based on caste, religion, occupation, and other like Sumit Guha believe that this was the first major step in giving caste a rigid and official place in Indian census didn't just reflect what society looked like; it shaped how people came to see themselves and each also recorded each individual's caste, religion, occupation, and age. These accounts went on until 1941 and had one major impact -- Britishers began defining how people came to be viewed in was fluid and dynamic began to become fixed on paper. Specimen of caste in India (Image: Wikimedia Commons) One sociologist, Michael Mann, has stated that these censuses were more of what the British required to govern rather than what the Indians British rarely knew how things actually operated here, so they relied on older religious writings and counsel from higher-caste leaders -- particularly Brahmins -- to determine how to document Indian British realised that if everyone could be put into tidy compartments, it would be possible to manage such a large nation. But not always.A Brahmin in Bengal, for instance, was more like other Bengal castes than like Brahmins elsewhere -- so the concept of one definite 'Brahmin' identity didn't quite Brahmin identity was there before the British, but it wasn't always rigid or were allowed to shift between roles, and there was openness for change. But once the British began inserting caste into official documents, it started to become more fixed and less accessible to why some authors think that the British didn't only document caste -- they assisted in forming what it was. Others think caste existed naturally but concur that the British made it more rigid in human let's pose the big question: did the British have a hand in establishing India's caste system, or did they reformulate it to suit their means of domination? That's something historians still debate Watch
India.com
28 minutes ago
- India.com
What is agro terrorism, how dangerous it is and how will it change future wars? Is India at risk?
Representational Image/AI-generated Agro-terrorism: Terrorism is often called the scourge of the modern world which has metamorphosed into more lethal and deadlier forms, even as countries have developed security mechanisms to deal with terror threats. While terrorism based on religion, politics, and ideology, is commonplace, a new kind of terrorism has reportedly been uncovered in the United States, and has been dubbed as 'Agro-terrorism' by American law enforcement agencies. Agro-terrorism case uncovered in US According to reports, a rare case of Agro terrorism was uncovered in the US by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), leading to the arrest of two Chinese nationals. The federal investigating agency said a lethal strain of Fusarium graminearum– a fungus pathogen known to cause fusarium head blight, a destructive disease on wheat and barley– from the two Chinese citizens. The FBI believes the fungal pathogen was smuggled to the US from China, and was meant to be used as a weapon in what they call 'agricultural terrorism'. Notably, Fusarium graminearum is known to cause crop losses worth billion of dollars globally each year. What is Agro-terrorism? Agro-terrorism is a very rare and sophisticated form of terrorism in which terrorists, usually state-sponsored non-state actors, target the agriculture of a rival state by using pathogens like fungi, viruses, etc to destroy crops. These biological weapons are released into the fields in a clandestine manner, and over time cause large-scale damage to crops, even destroying entire yields. Fusarium graminearum, is one of the most lethal fungal pathogens known to man, and can cause crop failures of cereal crops like wheat, barley, maize. How Agro-terrorism could shape future wars? While rare, Agro terrorism is not unheard of during modern times. For examples, in 1943, Nazi Germany released waves of beetles of over agricultural land in Britain, causing large-scale damage to potato crops, with entire yields being lost in several cases. As per experts, Agro terrorism is designed to hurt the economy of an enemy nation, and trigger internal discord by engineering artificial food insecurity due to crop failures. Is India at risk? Even though India has emerged as a manufacturing powerhouse in recent decades, the countries largely remains an agrarian economy with nearly 43 percent of its 1.4 billion population still dependent on agriculture, according to a 2022-23 survey. Thus, Agro terrorism poses a major risk to India, as terrorists, backed by the Pakistani-state, could use this deadly method to engineer an artificial food crisis and hurt the Indian economy.
Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
300-year-old mystery of world's most valuable shipwreck solved with San José £16 billion treasure
Beneath the Caribbean waves, the Spanish galleon San José, believed to be carrying treasure for more than three centuries, now estimated at over £16 billion, has been identified by the researchers in Colombia. Discovered in 2015 off the coast of Barú Island near Cartagena, the wreck has long been shrouded in mystery and claims of hidden riches. This historical analysis and underwater archaeology, experts say, there's no doubt: this is the long-lost San José. The identity of the wreck has now been officially confirmed, but the focus now turns to how the treasure will be recovered and who will ultimately control it. According to the reports, the San José was not just a treasure ship, but it was a key player in a geopolitical conflict. Its sinking helped shift the balance of power in the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714), a European war sparked by competing claims to the Spanish throne. Spanish warship carrying colonial treasure sunk in 1708 mystery solved The Spanish galleon San José fleet was tasked with transporting valuable cargo from Spain's colonies in the Americas back to Europe. In June 1708, during the height of the War of the Spanish Succession, the ship encountered a British squadron and was attacked off the coast of present-day Colombia. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Husband Leaves Sick Wife For His Mistress. When He Returns For Her Inheritance, She Does This Learn It Wise Undo The ship exploded during the battle and sank to the ocean floor, taking with it 600 crew members and a cargo of gold, silver, and emeralds mined in Peru. These riches were destined to fund Spain's war effort against the Grand Alliance, a European coalition that included Britain. The loss was a devastating blow to the Spanish crown and became one of the most legendary maritime disasters in European history. Decades of shipwreck mystery resolved with key historical artefacts Although the wreck was found in 2015 using underwater drones, it has taken years for scientists and archaeologists to gather enough evidence to confirm its identity. That confirmation came through a detailed analysis of artifacts recovered from the ocean floor: Silver coins minted in 1707 at the Lima Mint in Peru provided critical dating and geographical evidence, tying the cargo to a specific Spanish trade route. Chinese porcelain from the Kangxi period (1662–1722), a common luxury item in colonial trade which was found in abundance, indicating the ship's cargo included exotic goods from Asia via Spanish trade networks. Bronze cannons bearing Spanish royal emblems and markings from 1665 further solidified the ship's origin and era. World's most valuable shipwreck sparks a global ownership dispute Due to the size and presumed value of its treasure, the San José has long been referred to as the 'holy grail of shipwrecks.' It was rumored to be carrying over 200 tons of gold, silver, and emeralds, making it arguably the most valuable shipwreck ever discovered. The cargo was intended to help Spain fight a war that would reshape Europe's colonial empires. Its rediscovery has not only thrilled historians and treasure hunters but also reignited one of the most complex legal and diplomatic disputes in maritime history. Now that the wreck has been definitively identified, a multi-party battle over ownership has emerged. At the heart of the issue is the value of the treasure and competing claims from nations, companies, and communities: According to the ET reports, tThe discovery ignited a fierce ownership by: Colombian Government: Under a 2020 law, Colombia claims full ownership of the wreck and all its contents, arguing it lies within its territorial waters and forms part of its national heritage. Spanish Government: Spain argues that as a state-owned military vessel, the San José and its contents remain Spanish property under international maritime law. Peruvian Government: Since much of the treasure was mined in Peru by Indigenous and enslaved labor, Peru contends it has a moral and historical right to a portion of the treasure. Indigenous Communities and Descendants of Miners: Some Indigenous groups and families in Peru are also demanding recognition and reparations for the exploitation that made the treasure possible. According to the ET reports, Sea Search Armada (formerly Glocca Morra): A US treasure-hunting firm that claims to have discovered the wreck back in 1981, the company is demanding a £7.9 billion payout, stating that the current find lies within two miles of their originally reported coordinates. Also Read| Meet the London doctor who's 41 but biologically 24; here's his life longevity secrets revealed with 3 core supplements
