(1) For the purpose of investigations and inquiries under this Part, a shipping casualty shall be deemed to occur when--
         (a) on or near the coasts of India, any ship is lost, abandoned, stranded or materially damaged;
         (b) on or near the coasts of India, any ship causes loss or material damage to any other ship;
         (c) any loss of life ensues by reason of any casualty happening to or on board any ship on or near the coasts of India;
         (d) in any place, any such loss, abandonment, stranding, material damage or casualty as above mentioned occurs to or on board any Indian ship, and any competent witness thereof is found in India;
         (e) any Indian ship is lost or is supposed to have been lost, and any evidence is obtainable in India as to the circumstances under which she proceeded to sea or was last heard of.
     (2) In the cases mentioned in clauses (a), (b) and (c) of sub-section (1), the master, pilot, harbour master or other person in charge of the ship, or (where two ships are concerned) in charge of each ship at the time of the shipping casualty, and
in the cases mentioned in clause (d) of sub-section (1), where the master of the ship concerned or (except in the case of a loss) where the ship concerned proceeds to any place in India from the place where the shipping casualty has occurred, the master of the ship,
shall, on arriving in India, give immediate notice of the shipping casualty to the officer appointed in this behalf by the Central Government.