It is over a year since the merchant vessel MV Pavit drifted from the Oman coast to the city. However, the authorities still have not traced the route that it followed to reach Mumbai, citing the inclement weather conditions between June to August and said the route will forever remain a “mystery”.
“After the 999-tonne vessel ran aground at Juhu-Versova beach in July last year, we took help of satellite imagery to trace the route right from the day it was abandoned till it reached the Mumbai shores,” said a shipping department official.
On June 29, the ship had drifted off the Oman coast due to engine failure and ingress of water in the engine room. All 13 Indian crew members were rescued by a warship. It was on the afternoon of July 31, that the ship finally came to a halt in Mumbai. On August 15, it was shifted to the Dabhol port.
The owners had later demanded claim from the insurance company, stating that the ship had sunk. “But as we all know, the ship never sank. We wanted to trace the route but that was a time when monsoon was prevalent with the area covered with cloud,” added the official.
***
Cops bust gang of chain snatchers
Age Correspondent
Mumbai, Sept. 10
The Khar police busted a gang of four chain snatchers that is believed to be responsible for several incidents of chain snatching in the western suburbs. The first break in the case came in August this year, when a CCTV camera caught a motorcycle-borne man snatching a chain in Khar.
Based on a tip-off, the police picked up Ijaz Khan (22), from Bandra on September 1. During interrogation, he confessed to the crime and revealed the whereabouts of Shera Khan (25) from Jogeshwari, Pashuram Shinde (26) and Aryan Sheikh (24) from Khar, thus busting the entire gang.
“A total of 21 cases of chain snatching have been solved with the arrests,” said a police officer.