Twilight News Edition 151
Edition 151, 24th January 2022
THE STRANGE REASON BEHIND A CRUISE SHIP GOING OFF COURSE
By Ishana Katriar
A cruise ship recently went off the intended course and docked in Bahamas. While this incident seems commonplace enough, the backstory behind it is not what one would quite expect.
The docking of the ship in the Bahamas wasn’t due to any storm or natural interference; in fact, it was because a U.S. court ordered seizure of the ship. The court order was due to a lawsuit over millions of dollars in unpaid fuel.
To get into the specifics, a Miami federal judge issued an arrest for the vessel. The standard procedure for this would be for a US Navy Marshal to go about the ship and take over once it enters the country’s waters. The ship, ordered to dock in Miami, set sail off course, landing up in the Bahamas. The cruise ship, ‘Crystal Symphony’, is now docked in the island or Bimini.
Using social media platforms, passengers have expressed their feelings on finding out about the legal case. While many joked about being “kidnapped” by “pirates”, some others did not find the situation as funny! Guests were apparently taken to local hotels and airports .
The number of people on the cruise isn’t specified, but the estimate is around 800 (give or take). U.S and Bahama diplomats are going to sort out the legal issue as soon as possible, stated a federal judge.
INDIAN FAMILY OF FOUR FOUND DEAD IN CANADA
By Fiona Jhaveri
In a heartbreaking tragedy, a family of four, including a baby, died from exposure to cold weather on the Canadian side of the US-Canada border in an apparent human smuggling operation, according to media reports.
Among the dead bodies found by Manitoba Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), there were two adults - a man and a woman, a teen and an infant, and all belonged to an Indian Gujarati family, reported news agencies. They were apparently part of a group of people being smuggled into the US from Canada as part of a wider human smuggling operation and died due to frostbites.
The US agents told the RCMP that they stopped a 15-passenger van about 1 km inside the US from the international border near Emerson, and found two undocumented Indian nationals (Gujaratis) in it. US officials said that one of the apprehended adults was carrying items intended for a baby, but there was no infant with the group.
An immediate search began on both sides of the border, and by that afternoon, the bodies of an adult man, an adult woman, and an infant were found. The body of a boy believed to be in his mid-teens was found shortly afterwards.
RCMP Assistant Commissioner Jane MacLatchy shared the discovery with reporters in a news conference on Thursday. “What I am about to share is going to be difficult for many people to hear,” she said, calling it “an absolute and heartbreaking tragedy”.