A golden chariot washed ashore at Sunnapalli Sea Harbour in Andhra‘s Srikakulam district on Tuesday, mostly from Myanmar, Thailand, or Malaysia, due to the impact of cyclone Asani in the area.

The design of the chariot is similar to that of monasteries in Southeast Asian countries. The chariot was dragged out of the water and brought to the shore by people on the coast.

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The event has been reported to the intelligence department, according to the sub-inspector (SI) of Naupada (Srikakulam district).

“It might have come from another country. We have informed Intelligence and higher officials,” the SI stated.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) stated earlier today that ‘Asani’ has weakened into a ‘cyclonic storm’ and is expected to become a depression by Thursday morning.

Cyclone Asani continues to affect aviation operations in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, and Chennai, Tamil Nadu, with all IndiGo flights cancelled on Wednesday morning.

Also Read|‘Asani’ moving in a ‘cone of uncertainty’ over Bay of Bengal

By Wednesday midday, Cyclone Asani will landfall on India’s east coast in coastal Andhra Pradesh, causing extremely severe rainfall (more than 204mm in 24 hours) in the area. However, it will not make landfall or finish the process of the cyclone migrating from sea to land.

Asani was located about 50 kilometres south-southeast of Machilipatnam, 150 kilometres southwest of Kakinada, 290 kilometres southwest of Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, 530 kilometres southwest of Gopalpur and 640 kilometres southwest of Puri in Odisha, according to satellite observations at 5.30 a.m.

IMD issued a red alert over the coastal Andhra Pradesh districts of Guntur and Krishna, indicating very heavy to extremely heavy rainfall (115.5 to 204mm or more in 24 hours), while Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Godavari, and Krishna were placed on a ‘yellow’ alert.