Bulk carrier hits mine in Black Sea, two persons injured
- December 29, 2023
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
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Bulk carrier hits mine in Black Sea, two persons injured
Subject : Geography
Section: Places in news
In the news:
- A Panama-flagged bulk carrier, headed to a River Danube port to load grain, has hit a mine in the Black Sea injuring two persons.
- It was the latest incident of a civilian vessel hitting an explosive in the Black Sea.
Black Sea:
- It is a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia. It is bordered by Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine.
- It is supplied by major rivers, principally the Danube, Dnieper, and Don.
- The Black Sea ultimately drains into the Mediterranean Sea, via the Turkish Straits and the Aegean Sea.
- The Bosporus Strait connects it to the small Sea of Marmara which in turn is connected to the Aegean Sea via the Strait of the Dardanelles.
- To the north, the Black Sea is connected to the Sea of Azov by the Kerch Strait.
- The Black Sea covers 436,400 km2 (not including the Sea of Azov), making it the world’s largest inland body of water.
Panama:
- It is a transcontinental country in Central America, spanning the southern tip of North America into the northern part of South America.
- It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the south.
- Isthmus of Panama: Also called the Isthmus of Darien, is the narrow strip of land that lies between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, linking North and South America.
- The Panama Canal is an artificial 82-kilometre (51-mile) waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean, cutting across the Isthmus of Panama, and is a conduit for maritime trade.
Placing stone crushers in the ‘green’ category will create a huge environmental mess
Store Crusher Units:
- A stone crushing plant typically works by crushing large stones into smaller pieces. The crushed stones are then transported through a conveyor belt to a storage area, where they are screened, separated, and sorted according to size and other criteria.
- In July 2023, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) proposed a new draft of classification criteria for industries into the red, orange, green and white categories.
- The stone crusher units are currently categorised into the ‘orange category’.
- Stone crusher units are source of fugitive emissions, total suspended particles (TSP) and fine particulate matter (PM) 10, and ultrafine PM2.5.
- Health impact: Environmental pollution by stone crushing units affected 36 per cent workers with diseases like eye irritation, asthma, chest pain, tuberculosis, etc.
- Noise pollution from the operation of the crusher units is another cause for concern.
fugitive emissions:
- Fugitive emissions are leaks and other irregular releases of gasses or vapours from a pressurized containment – such as appliances, storage tanks, pipelines, wells, or other pieces of equipment – mostly from industrial activities.
- In addition to the economic cost of lost commodities, fugitive emissions contribute to local air pollution and may cause further environmental harm. Common industrial gases include refrigerants and natural gas, while less common examples are perfluorocarbons, sulfur hexafluoride, and nitrogen trifluoride.
- Most occurrences of fugitive emissions are small, of no immediate impact, and difficult to detect.