Untitled Document

The Spiderman - the Navy version
The Spiderman, both in cartoons and films, have figured only on land. They fly out of the windows of multi storeyed buildings to deal with wrong doers.

But this is a different kind though Navy personnel have dubbed him with the same name. This sea faring Spiderman is a young officer who befriended a female kind at the Navy's installations in Welisara.

Late in the night he visited the lady who was in a second floor room in the Officer's Mess. Someone who knew the movements of this amorous Spiderman rang up the Commanding Officer. He promptly ordered another officer to check it out.

The officer turned up at the Officer's Mess and politely knocked at the second floor room. He gave time for the lady to open the door. Then he checked the room but there was no one. The officer then opened the rear door. Lo and behold there was the Spiderman perched precariously on a concrete slab jutting out.Unlike the famed spiderman, he could not fly. He had no choice but to nervously laugh.

If he tried to escape, he would have hurt himself badly. Now justice for this sea faring Spiderman is coming from the Navy Chief, Vice Admiral Daya Sandagiri. He has ordered immediate disciplinary action.

LTTE's Andhra connection
The nexus between the Indian left wing extremist group, the People's War Group (PWG) in Andhra Pradesh, and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam has come out in the open says an Indian magazine devoted to national security, terrorism and world affairs.

SAPRA INDIA is a publication of Security and Political Risk Analysis Foundation, an independent private sector think tank. Its patron in chief is General (retd.)Shankar Roy Chowdhury, a former Commander of the Indian Army.

The magazine says: "It is widely believed that the LTTE has been aiding the PWG in acquiring sophisticated arms and ammunitions on a regular basis. According to information received by the Indian Coast Guard, the LTTE ships sophisticated arms and ammunitions to the PWG guerillas in Andhra Pradesh through the Bay of Bengal. According to an intelligence report, the PWG received arms and ammunition from the LTTE's 'fishing' boats in the second and last quarters of 2003, which were later transported to the coast in the Palnadu area. Apart from acquiring arms, the PWG militants have been receiving training in the use of IEDs from the LTTE."

Crash landing
An Airbus 330 aircraft crash lands at the Bandaranaike International Airport and rests on the ground outside the runway. Passengers and crew are injured.

What does one do? That was the theme of an emergency exercise this week involving some 200 persons. They included Air Force personnel, medical teams, BIA security staff and tour operators among others.

Officials of the Civil Aviation Department praised the Air Force team for evacuating the "injured" on time. Others also came in for praise for their prompt responses.

Back to Columns