Kerala | Pakistan

A British F-35B fighter jet stranded at an Indian airport for nearly a month, sparking memes and cartoons on social media, is expected to fly back home as early as next week, The Associated Press reported on Thursday, quoting Indian officials. The Royal Navy aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing at Thiruvananthapuram International Airport on June 14 in the state capital and has been grounded ever since, despite efforts to repair it. The Indian Air Force said last month it would help in the repair and return of the jet, which made an emergency landing when it was flying over the Arabian Sea off Kerala’s coast. A British High Commission spokesperson had told Reuters the United Kingdom had accepted an offer to move the aircraft to the maintenance, repair and overhaul facility at the airport. AP reported today that officials said engineers hoped to repair the plane in the next few days before it could fly back to the UK “sometime next week”. The British High Commission confirmed to the outlet that a Br...

India’s coastguard raced on Monday to contain an oil spill from a container ship with hazardous cargo that sank off the southern coast a day earlier, Kerala’s state government said. The Liberian-flagged MSC ELSA 3, listed as a 184 meter freight ship, went down off the coast of Kerala on Sunday, with all 24 crew members rescued. It was carrying 640 containers, including 13 with hazardous cargo and 12 containing calcium carbide, a chemical used for fertiliser production and steelmaking. The vessel also contained some 370 tonnes of fuel and oil. “The Coast Guard is taking action to prevent the spread of oil using two ships,” Kerala’s government said in a statement. “The work of spraying dust to destroy the oil is in progress using a Dornier aircraft”. Crew members of a Liberian-flagged container vessel MSC ELSA 3 sit after they were rescued off Kerala Coast, India on May 24, 2025. — Reuters India’s defence ministry said the ship sank “due to flooding” some 38 nautical miles southwest of Kochi, raising concerns f...