CHENNAI: The bodies of five Kasimedu fishermen, among nine who went missing off the Andhra Pradesh coast during Cyclone Murasu, were recovered along the Kothapatnam shoreline in Andhra Pradesh’s Prakasam district on Thursday.
While four of the victims have been identified, the government has released the names of only three of them — S Mohan, A Murugan, and C Vijayakanth. The identities of the remaining two are still being verified. Search operations are on to locate the four fishermen who are still missing.
CM Vijay on Thursday announced a compensation of `7 lakh each for the families of the nine fishers, of which an immediate relief of `2 lakh each will be disbursed. The state will transport the bodies to TN at its expense, the CM said.
Nearby boat got distress call on Nov 3 saying engine had failed
Conflicting accounts of their trawler’s movement before the onset of the severe cyclone, doubts over whether it reached a safe harbour and an engine failure reported during a distress call have all raised a question of whether their deaths could have been prevented.
The trawler, owned by Selvazhagan, left Kasimedu fishing harbour on October 29 with nine crew members and provisions for 10 days. Two days later, the Tamil Nadu fisheries department issued a cyclone warning on October 31, advising fishing boats to take shelter in nearby harbours.
On November 2, around 6 pm, Selvazhagan contacted the trawler’s driver, Pakkirisamy alias Suriya (49) and crew member M Kuppan (48). Upon learning that the vessel was at sea, he warned them about the severe weather conditions and advised them to halt at Ramayapatnam.
Around 3 am on November 3, a nearby boat owned by Venkatesh Rajendran received a distress call. The crew reportedly said the engine had failed, water was entering the engine room amid heavy rain, and the navigation system had broken down. The trawler had drifted about 20 nautical miles while heading towards Ramayapatnam and sought immediate assistance.
The neighbouring boat was also struggling to pump water out of its engine room and could not reach the trawler. The information was relayed to other boats and Tamil Nadu officials, who sought aerial assistance from the Coast Guard’s Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre. The owner also sent two mechanised boats to search for the vessel, but they found nothing.
Prakasam Collector P Raja Babu told TNIE the boat had anchored safely inside the Nizampatnam fishing harbour, but decided to sail southwards to Ramayapatnam to join other TN vessels without informing anyone. “There was no navigation transponder in the vessel to track its exact location,” he said.
Disputing this claim, G Manivannan, vice-treasurer of the Chennai Mechanised Boat Fishermen Welfare Association, said the boat had anchored outside the fishing harbour in a sheltered bay commonly used by fishing boats during rough weather.
Manivannan said an engine failure could have left the vessel unable to maintain its heading against the waves, causing it to turn broadside and capsize.
He also flagged the inadequate financial protection for fishing crews. When a boat owner takes out an insurance for the boat, it usually has a basic component of Rs 1 lakh for all crew members, he said.
Tamil Nadu Finance Minister N Marie Wilson, who is also the local RK Nagar MLA, said a detailed inquiry will be initiated to find out what exactly has happened.