Five Fishermen Die as Tamil Nadu Boat Capsizes During Cyclone Murusu

Five fishermen from Tamil Nadu died after their boat capsized in rough seas during Cyclone Murusu, while several others remain missing. According to police, three groups of fishermen from Tamil Nadu set out for fishing in three boats on the 29th of this month. Following cyclone warnings, fishermen from two groups anchored their boats near the Ramayapatnam Port. However, the third group, comprising nine fishermen, continued fishing and was stationed at the Nizampatnam harbour in Andhra Pradesh. The fishermen were identified as Pakkirisamy Suriya (49), Kuppan (48), Mohan (47), Rajesh (52), Murugan (48), Kuppusamy (58), Vijayakanth (44), Aravind (40) and Narayanan (57).

The other fishermen contacted the third group and asked them to return towards Ramayapatnam. While travelling from Nizampatnam harbour on the morning of the 3rd, their boat got caught in a whirlpool amid powerful cyclone waves and sank around two to three kilometres from Kothapatnam Pallepalem. Five of the nine fishermen lost their lives. The tragedy came to light on Thursday after local fishermen spotted four bodies washed ashore and alerted the police. Coast Guard personnel later brought another body to the shore. The governments of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have launched search operations to trace the missing fishermen. The Tamil Nadu government has also arranged a special charter flight equipped with drone cameras to conduct aerial searches over the sea. Meanwhile, relatives of the fishermen are arriving at the Kothapatnam coast.