Mumbai: An unmanned Nicaragua-flag merchant tanker, MT Al Jafzia, ran aground almost a kilometre near Manori island after it broke away from the anchor chain, while two other vessels washed closer to the island after they got dragged due to rough weather despite being on anchorage, said police.The two other vessels — Mali-flagged bitumen tanker MT Asphalt Star and Iranian-flagged tanker MT Stellar Ruby — washed closer to about 11 nautical miles, 20.3km from Manori island, said police.On noticing the vessel, local fishing community alerted the Gorai police after realising it would be dangerous for a small boat to enter the water to inspect the ship as the beach was rocky and wind speed was high. Police and the Coast Guard monitored the situation.An ICG official said they received message from DG Shipping on Sunday regarding the three vessels being dragged due to inclement weather conditions. “ICGS Samrat, which was in the area, was diverted for assessing the situation and necessary assistance to the vessels. DG Shipping was simultaneously requested to deploy ETV Water Lily for rendering assistance. Presently, MT Asphalt Star and MT Stellar Ruby are ascertained to be anchored and crew of ships are safe. MT Al Jafzia was unmanned on anchorage and has presumably run aground off Manori,” said the official.The official said ICGS Sagar Prahari and ETV Water Lily will remain in the area for rendering assistance.The three vessels were managed and owned by Dubai-based entities. In Feb 2026, the Indian Coast Guard, in a coordinated sea-air operation, intercepted and detained the Asphalt Star along with two other tankers in the Arabian Sea. Authorities alleged that the vessel engaged in illicit mid-sea ship-to-ship transfers of Iranian bitumen and fuel while employing deceptive practices, such as switching off tracking systems and operating under OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control) sanctions.On a tip-off, the Indian Coast Guard intercepted and apprehended three vessels over alleged illegal fuel smuggling. These ships were anchored approximately 11 nautical miles off the Mumbai coast. The Coast Guard intercepted these vessels within Indian territorial waters, and an FIR was registered against the ship owner and eight others on Feb 15. Subsequently, they were handed over to the custody of the Yellow Gate police.Consequently, the shipowners filed a petition in the Bombay High Court demanding the release of these vessels. The HC had in May granted permission to move vessel Al Jafzia, one of the three ships intercepted in connection with a fuel theft and bitumen smuggling case, to Alang shipyard in Gujarat. The court issued orders directing to obtain all necessary permissions from the Indian Coast Guard and other relevant departments to ensure this process was completed.Investigation agencies found that the seized ships, identified as the Stellar Ruby, Asphalt Star and Al Jafzia, frequently changed their identities to evade coastal law enforcement. Because the vessel owners abandoned the ships and deserted the crew, the HC had in May intervened and ordered the immediate release and repatriation of the 50 Indian seafarers stranded onboard.TOI is in possession of the FIR in which the owner and crews of the three vessels were booked under the Customs Act, Essential Commodities Act, Petroleum Act, Information Technology Act, Motor Spirit and High Speed Diesel Order Regulation of Supply and Distribution and Prohibition of Unfair Practices, and Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections.

Mumbai: The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) on Monday slammed the Mahayuti govt over the landslide on the ‘missing link’ — called the ‘connecting link’ since its recent inauguration — on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway.Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis defended his govt, saying the missing link was an engineering marvel, be it the tunnel or the viaduct, both of which were intact even in extreme weather conditions. He said his govt had shown courage by creating the link while the govt in 2013 had found reasons not to develop the link.Terming the landslide and closure of the missing link a systemic failure, the opposition demanded a thorough inquiry into big-ticket infrastructure projects. Leading the charge were NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar, Congress state unit president Harshwardhan Sapkal, Congress city unit chief and MP Varsha Gaikwad, Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray, and NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule.Pawar asked whether the landslide had also been created for “durability checks”, like the potholes that surfaced a few days ago on the missing link — a dig at Fadnavis, who had said there were only two potholes and the link would undergo a durability check.Echoing Pawar’s sarcasm, Sapkal asked whether the closure of the missing link was also a “monsoon trial”. He said the first spell of rain had effectively turned “infra man” Fadnavis into a “disaster man”.Sapkal argued that while tunnels are successfully carved through mountains globally, Maharashtra’s projects appear to collapse at the first sign of rain. “The problem isn’t the rainfall; it is substandard work, corruption, and the political patronage enjoyed by contractors,” he said.The Congress termed the incidents “Fadnavis’ man-made disaster”, demanding an FIR against the chief minister.MP and Congress city unit chief Varsha Gaikwad said Fadnavis’s testing of the missing link was testing the people’s patience. She said it was surprising that no planning was done for landslides and other natural calamities given the topography of the missing link area. She said on X that there was a “link of brokerage and corruption” in the missing link’ work.Sule urged the chief minister to immediately review the situation and declare a state of emergency regarding infrastructure. She noted that the state appeared “completely paralysed”, with crucial connectivity between Mumbai and Pune severed.Stopping short of alleging outright corruption “until more facts emerge”, Sule raised questions regarding the project’s execution. “We need to know the total expenditure incurred and, more importantly, whether a safety audit was conducted. If it was, did they account for natural disasters?” she said.Thackeray said corruption was the first name of the BJP and Shiv Sena, be it in roads or temples, referring to the Ram temple donation theft case in Ayodhya.Thackeray said on X that the cost of the link was escalated by thousands of crores. “It has now had a landslide and much more within 2 months of its checks and inaugurations. More so, using it while on the way to Pune and back, I noticed and stated publicly also that not even 50 ft of the road is flat. It is all undulated and feels like one is sitting in a boat, riding the waves,” he said.Fadnavis defended his govt and termed the missing link project an engineering marvel. He accused opposition parties of not executing any development project when they were in power and stated that “those who had a habit of indulging in corruption, unable to digest why it is not happening now, are making baseless allegations”.“In 2013, Harshwardhan Sapkal’s party closed the connecting link’s file listing 13 reasons and stating that it was not possible. But our govt showed courage and completed the connecting link project,” he said.Fadnavis said the landslide had brought down nearly 100 tonnes of sludge and nearly 70% had been cleared by afternoon. He said three lanes were open going towards Pune while one lane was operational going towards Mumbai. He said PWD minister Shivendraraje Bhosale was at site overseeing the clearing operations and efforts were on to open it completely.(With inputs from Prasad Kulkarni in Pune)

The incident took place between 8am and 8.30am on Saturday when Manoj Patel, a resident of Vile Parle (East), was on his way to catch a train. (AI-generated image)

MUMBAI: A man impersonating a police officer allegedly duped a Vile Parle resident of Rs 13,000 after threatening to book him and send him to jail for three months for chewing gutka, which is banned in Maharashtra, police said on Monday.The Vile Parle police, who have registered a case, said the conman flashed what appeared to be a police identity card and demanded a Rs 25,000 fine, warning the victim that he would be jailed for three months if he failed to pay. The accused then made the victim withdraw Rs 13,000 from an ATM and hand over the cash to avoid action.The incident took place between 8 am and 8.30 am on Saturday when Manoj Patel (49), a resident of Vile Parle (East), was on his way to catch a train to reach his workplace at Masjid Bunder.“A team has been formed to trace the unidentified conman, who arrived on a motorcycle and flashed an ID card while impersonating a police officer. The team is scanning CCTV footage to identify the route he took after fleeing,” an officer from Vile Parle police station said.Patel was near the Adarsh Petrol Pump on Nehru Road in Vile Parle (East) when a man, believed to be around 40 to 45 years old, approached him on a two-wheeler.In his complaint, Patel said: “He stopped me claiming to be a police officer and showed me a police ID card, asking how I could consume gutka when it is banned. He threatened to impose a Rs 25,000 fine and put me in lock-up for three months. When I assured him that I would not repeat the mistake, he asked how much money I had. I told him I had money in my SBI bank account.”The conman then took Patel on his two-wheeler to an SBI ATM on Sadanand Road in Vile Parle and asked him to withdraw money.“The conman waited outside the ATM while I withdrew Rs 13,000 and handed it over to him. He then left the spot, and I went to work. While at work, I realised that the man had neither taken me to a police station nor given me any receipt for the money,” Patel said in the FIR.After realising that he had been cheated by a man impersonating a police officer and using a fake identity card, Patel approached the Vile Parle police after returning home from work and lodged a complaint.

Navi Mumbai: One worker was killed while his colleague sustained grievous injuries after four of the eight empty containers stacked on a shipping vessel anchored at the Nhava Sheva Freeport Terminal (NSFT) of Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA) fell off an anchored vessel at the container berth during heavy rain and gusty winds around 3.30 am in the Uran taluka on Monday.The four empty containers landed on two trucks at the terminal, including a truck for collecting hazardous waste. The containers fell on the two workers while they were atop one truck for the assigned work of removing waste oil from the anchored ships and filling it into the truck. The incident occurred when the workers were engaged in loading and unloading of containers on various vessels using rail-mounted quay cranes, among other daily activities at the terminal. While the four containers from an anchored vessel where no activity was going on and unfortunately, the two workers were trapped under one of the four fallen containers due to gusty winds amid heavy rains, informed Suraj Patil, senior inspector of Nhava Sheva police station.Suraj Patil, senior inspector of Nhava Sheva, said the deceased worker was identified as Amit Kumar Kishor Prasad, 19, who hailed from Bihar, and the injured worker as Naeem, 30, whose full name was not known, who was from Gaziabad. The incident caused panic among workers. While Prasad was declared brought dead at the Indira Gandhi Rural Govt Hospital in Uran as he got directly crushed under one container, Naeem wasadmitted to Medicover Hospital in Kharghar. An accidental death report has been registered in the incident.A JNPA spokesperson said, “In the incident of containers toppling at the NSFT on July 6, causing death of one worker and injury to other worker, JNPA is extending all necessary support to those affected. A detailed investigation, including a comprehensive root-cause analysis, has been initiated. All terminals at JNPA are strictly following the prescribed operational procedures and established safety protocols. No deviation from these procedures is being observed, and all requisite safety measures are being implemented consistently across all terminals.”