Forest fire on Kamorta Island
A forest fire broke out in the remote Daring village on Kamorta Island, part of the Nicobar group of isles, on Sunday afternoon. As villagers saw the forest fire raging, they alerted the authorities and the Tribal Council. They also did their bid to control the blaze till help arrived. The fire brigade was alerted about the fire around 4.30pm. As there is no motorable road leading to Daring village, fire brigade, police and Indian Reserve Battalion (IRBn) personnel were ferried to the spot by a defence vessel around 7.30pm. However, by that time, the blaze had been largely brought under control.
Endangered mammal sighted
A pair of endangered marine mammal, Dugong Dugon, was sighted in the intertidal region, at the fishing boat anchorage point near Chidiyatapu bus stand, on May 22. The pair was sighted and filmed by NVVinithkumar, officer-in-charge, Atal Centre for Ocean Science and Technology for Islands (ACOSTI), National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), along with fellow NIOT scientists R Karunakumari and Prasun Goswami. Curious locals also gathered at the spot to catch a glimpse of the mammal pair. Dugong was declared as the state animal of Andaman and Nicobar Islands in 2002 in a bid to preserve the endangered species.
4.5 magnitude quake rattles islands
An earthquake measuring 4.5 on the Richter scale hit the Andamans around 7.49am on Sunday. The temblor followed two medium intensity quakes, measuring 5.0 and 4.8 on the Richter, which hit the archipelago in the early hours of Saturday. The islands, sources said, have been experiencing frequent seismic events over the last few days. While the first quake on Saturday struck the islands around 2.52 am, another followed at 5am.
Cheating case cracked
Officers of Campbell Bay police station cracked a cheating case with the arrest of six persons from Delhi-NCR. The accused are alleged to have duped complainant Rakesh Tirkey, a resident of Campbell Bay, by luring him to invest in three companies with the promise of huge profits in return. After his initial investment of R3,50,000 in 2014, the complainant received some electronic items and was also promised some profit on the initial investment. He was further lured into investing a total of R40 lakh in three fraud firms — M/s Shopit Marketing Private Limited, M/s Unique Mart Private Limited and M/s IDS Marketing Private Limited — in 2015.
Sanjib Kumar Roy
Our correspondent in Andaman and Nicobar Islands
laurelsforsanjib@gmail.com