Mangalore Mirror...

Mangalore, March 14: In a bizarre incident, four vessels caught fire at Kasba Bengre under mysterious circumstances on Sunday afternoon creating panic among the fishermen and local residents.All the four ill-fated vessels were docked for repair works, official sources said. The fire which broke out at around 3:15 pm completely destroyed two cargo vessels named ‘Musthafa’ and ‘Abbas’ owned by Kunnhi Koya, from Hamaimi in Lakshadweep and TK Ahmed Haji from Kavaratti, Lakshadweep respectively, while passenger boat ‘Hasmi Madat’ owned by a Kolkata based businessman and fishing boat ‘Karavali’ owned by local entrepreneur Hameed Bengre have been partially destroyed. The owners of the cargo vessels claimed that they have suffered an estimated loss of Rs 50 lakh each, while the owners of fishing boat and passenger vessel put the estimated loss at Rs 5 lakh and Rs 7 lakh respectively. People at the ship yard, said they saw the fire blazing up to five meter high. However six fire extinguishe

Mangalore:Thousands of Christians, led by the Catholic Diocese of Mangalore, held a mammoth protest march in the City on Sunday against the report of the Justice B K Somasekara Commission of Inquiry.They also urged the government to hand over the investigation of church attack cases of September 14 and 15, 2008 to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Addressing the gathering at the Nehru Maidan, Mangalore Diocese Bishop, Fr Aloysius Paul D’Souza, alleged that the Commission was in no way different from other government appointed commissions. “To know the truth, we demand that the investigation into the incidents of attacks on churches should be handed over to the CBI. We also demand that the State Government should withdraw all cases registered against Christians in connection with the church attacks across the State,” the Bishop urged. “The Commission has mentioned in its report that as many as 57 churches and other places of worship belonging to Christians in 10 districts were

Mangalore:The day exactly 25 years ago (February 6, 1986) was a very special for Mangaloreans, especially the Christians, with approximately five lakh people gathering at Bajpe to have a glimpse of Pope John Paul II, the first and only Pope to visit Karnataka. Divine presence Pope John Paul II addressing the gathering during his visit to Bajpe near Mangalore on Feburary 6, 1986. Though the Pope was scheduled to visit Bangalore that year, the venue was changed to Mangalore, also known as the “Rome of the East,” as the atmosphere in Bangalore was not conducive. People cutting across religious and caste lines thronged the venue, near the Bajpe airport, from every nook and corner of the State and outside the State, for the only engagement of the Pope in Karnataka. ‘People saw God’ Many people who had witnessed the historic event attended the special mass on Sunday. Alwyn Noronha, a teacher at St Joseph PU College in Bajpe, and a 10th Standard student then said he felt he was “seeing Go

First man who landed in Mangalore Airport. War hero Vonthibettu Prabhakar Hegde made the first-ever landing in Mangalore, 59 years ago. His passenger: India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru . He tells Rajul Hegde the airport is tricky but not unsafe. War hero and pioneering aviator Vonthibettu Prabhakar Hegde won’t forget December 25, 1951, for as long as he lives.On that day the retired wing commander, now a spry 84, then an air force flight lieutenant, flew India first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru on the first-ever flight to Mangalore airport (then called Bajpe Aerodrome) on a DC-3 (Dakota).Talking about the maiden flight from his home in Bangalore, Wing Commander Hegde told us, “When I landed for the first time at Bajpe, they were just digging and levelling the hill to build the runway. So it was just a non-tarmac, level ground, there was no airport as such. But the DC-3 is a small aircraft and it was easy for me to land it.”On being asked Nehru’s observation or if he comm