The Mexican national Fernando Cruz Mendez, 53, was medevaced from the 'Celebrity Millennium', en route from Goa to Mumbai by the Indian Coast Gaurd after suffering a heart attack on Feb 19. 2024, 40 kilometers off the coast of Goa, and taken to a private hospital in Chicalim. The ship had contacted the Coast Guard at 7.25 p.m. A Coast Guard vessel was diverted to the ship and rendezvoused at 9.30 p.m. The patient was taken aboard aloing with his wife and a medical attendant and then transported to Mormugao at 11.30 p.m., where an ambulance was waiting. Report with photo: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/107879885.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
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MT KQLI
The Nigeria Police have unmasked three Indians and five Nigerians as sponsors of the 'Kali', which was impounded for illegally siphoning crude oil from the platform of the Anglo-Dutch Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), in Bayelsa State. Similarly, the police have arrested a popular Lagos-based oil and gas magnate as the alleged owner and sponsor of the 'Harbor Spirit', which was also arrested siphoning crude oil illegally from Sengana oilfields in the coastal axis of Bayelsa State on Feb 4, 2024. The oil merchant, whose office is located in Ikeja, Lagos Sate, was arrested on Feb 19 as he honoured the invitation of the police investigating the operations of the illegal bunkering ship. He was promptly taken to Abuja on the orders of the Inspector-General of Police, and has since been kept in custody as police detectives tried to establish his culpability in the shady oil deals. The Indians, who are members of the management team of a major oil company operating in Kwale axis of Delta State, were yet to honour the police invitation. Their emissaries, identified as retired naval rear admiral and captain, as well as a retired assistant superintendent of police who came to represent the foreign nationals, claimed that the Indians were out of the country. The police e insisted that the Indian suspects must honour the invitation personally upon their return to the country. Findings by the police revealed that the Indians and Nigerians were the promoters of Deep Frontline Shippers Ltd., which allegedly procured the 'Kali' for the illegal assignment. The Indians. The tanker was impounded by the joint team of a private security company, Tantita Security Services Limited (TSSL), and the National Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) while siphoning crude oil from Pennington oil fields of SPDC in Bayelsa State, on Jan 11. 23 suspects, made up of 12 crew members and 11 host community boys offering operational support to the crew to successfully carry out the nefarious assignment in their areas, were apprehended in the manhunt by TSSL and NSCDC operatives. The 'Kali' was actually registered in the name of Frontline Shippers Ltd., as against the initial fake name, Sasna Global and Sasna Global Resources Ltd. given by the captain of the ship. The police were able to establish, with the assistance of the Nigeria Maritime and Safety Administration Agency (NIMASA), that the vessel was deleted from the Nigerian maritime networks since Feb 1, 2022 and that it had no valid permit to sail on Nigerian waters without a valid certificate of registry and applicable trading certificates.The Indians, who were captured in the CAC records of Deep Frontline Shippers Ltd., were in charge of the finance of the company and are also associated with 150 other corporate entities, including an oil company operating in Kwale axis of Delta State. Full report:
KRITI KING
The 'Kriti King' was fined with 100,000 Euros by the public procecutor in Marseille on Jan 19, 2024, to be permitted to leave Fos-sur-Mer due to having used its scrubber in an unauthorized area and having used engine fuel the sulfur content of which was above the authorized level. The ship was detained in the port on Feb 15. The captain will be tried in December in Marseille for having deliberately ignored the rules limiting maritime pollution.The tanker had already stopped at Fos-sur-Mer at the end of 2023 without respecting the ban on the use of the scrubber within 3 nautical miles and in the port area.
KING XIA CRUISE
China's Coast Guard inspected the 'King Xia' on Feb 19, 2024, and the boarding of the vessel caused people to panic. At least six Chinese Coast Guard officers boarded the sightseeing ship "King Xia” in the afternoon in the waters of the Taipei-controlled Kinmen Islands when it strayed near Chinese territorial waters. The Coast Guard officers were aboard the sightseeing ship for around 32 minutes. After inspecting the 'King Xia', examining its navigation plan, ship documents, captain and crew licenses, and obtaining the captain's signature, the Chinese personnel disembarked at 5.19 p.m. LT. China last week accused Taiwan's Coast Guard of driving away a fishing boat with four people on board, that capsized and resulted in the death of two people. Red Cross Society officials from China's southern Quanzhou city Feb 20 accompanied the families of the four people to Kinmen islands for the return of the two surviving crew members. Several Chinese patrol boats were seen off Kinmen Island following the incident. Taiwan protested against the boarding. Report with video: https://en.rti.org.tw/news/view/id/2010754
GOVT VESSEL 58
On Feb 20, 2024, shortly after midnight, the USS 'Laboon' identified one anti-ship cruise missile shot by Houthi militants, headed in its direction. The USS 'Laboon' shot down the missile with CENTCOM reporting no damage or injury to the American crew.