New Delhi: Four navy personnel, including an officer, remained missing yesterday while the navy launched full-scale search and rescue (SAR) operation after its torpedo recovery vessel (TRV) sank off the Visakhapatnam coast on Thursday night.
A board of inquiry headed by a captain has been constituted to investigate into the circumstances leading to the mishap.
Navy chief Admiral R K Dhowan, who is on an official visit to Seychelles, has cut short his visit to reach Visakhapatnam.
A defence ministry release said that nine ships of the Eastern Fleet and a few aircraft, including Boeing P8I, Dorniers, Sea King 42C, and Chetak helicopters have been deployed through the night to search for the missing personnel. “At the time of the incident, there were 29 personnel on board. One sailor has lost his life during the rescue operation and four personnel (one officer and three sailors) are still reported missing,” the release said.
Australian woman murdered in Andhra
Hyderabad: A 75-year-old Australian woman, who was missing for more than two months in Andhra Pradesh’s Puttaparthi town, has been murdered, police said.
Toni Anne Ludgate, a devotee of Sri Sathya Sai Baba, who was on a pilgrimage to the town, was murdered by watchman of an apartment where she was staying.
Police began a search for the woman last morning after one of her family members who flew in from Australia lodged a complaint with the Puttaparthi police saying they had lost communication with her in August-end.
Police formed special teams and searched the Sai Gauri Apartments where she was staying alone in a flat. The investigating officials questioned a few people who were in contact with her. By evening, police arrested Bhagawant, the security guard at the apartments.
He confessed to have committed the crime for money and valuables. Two others, who helped him in the crime, were also arrested. They told police that after killing the woman, they buried her near a lake on the outskirts of the town. Ludgate was doing charity work in Puttaparthi, the abode of Sathya Sai Baba, who passed away in 2010.
Soldier injured in Pakistani firing
Jammu: An Indian soldier was injured yesterday in firing by the Pakistan Army on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu district. A senior police officer told said here that the Pakistanis violated the ceasefire in Akhnoor sector using small arms and automatics.
“A soldier, Havaldar Suresh Kumar of 3 Naga regiment, was injured in the Pakistan firing,” the officer said. He was moved to the army hospital at Akhnoor town.
The Pakistani firing started at 4 pm. The Chakla border outpost on the Indian side was targeted.
Plane hits stray buffalo on take-off
NEW DELHI: An Indian airliner crashed into a stray buffalo during take-off from the western city of Surat although no passengers or crew were hurt, the plane’s operator, SpiceJet Ltd said yesterday. The airline was forced to ground the Boeing 737 which suffered “substantial damages”, it said.
SpiceJet said the buffalo, which was killed in the accident on Thursday evening, was “essentially invisible” against a dark background. Passengers on the Delhi-bound aircraft were transferred on to another plane, SpiceJet said. “Stray animals are a growing menace in some airports,” SpiceJet said in a statement.Agencies
