CHENNAI: With the tears rolling down their cheeks becoming one with the pouring rain, family members of five fishermen, who were part of a group of nine that went missing off the Andhra Pradesh coast during Cyclone Murasu, bid adieu to them at the Tondiarpet crematorium on Friday amid heavy police presence—two days before Deepavali.
The bodies of the five, which were recovered from the neighbouring state’s shoreline on Thursday, had arrived one after the other earlier on Friday. While the bodies of two other fishermen reached Chennai late on Friday, the search continues for the remaining two in the group that had set sail from Kasimedu on October 29.
Among the families that had gathered at the Chennai corporation’s crematorium was that of K Pakkirisamy (49) of Kasimedu, who had spent more than the past two decades fishing for a living. He was his family’s lone breadwinner and had worked with the same boat owner for the past five years. Before he left, his family had asked him to stay home.
“We told him not to venture into the sea as it was raining. He smiled and assured us that he would take care. We never expected this (his death),” said his son Bharatheeshwaran. We are unsure how to manage now without father’s income, he added.
Nandhakumar (35), an auto driver and son of Kuppusamy, another deceased fisherman, had hoped his father would return safely, as he had on earlier occasions.
“Such situations (a boat getting stranded in a cyclone) had occurred earlier and my father had managed to return safely. We thought he would make it back this time too. He had informed another family that he was standing ashore near Andhra Pradesh, but the information did not reach us. We came to know about it only later,” he said.
The families question whether enough had been done to keep the men safe at sea. R Vinoth, a relative of Murugan— another fisherman who perished—alleged that the boat the latter was on had no life jackets, tracking systems or alternative communication facilities. “If adequate precautions had been taken and the owner had called off the fishing trip, these deaths could have been prevented,” he said.
Bharathi K of the South Tamil Nadu Fishermen Welfare Association called for the constitution of a government committee comprising experienced fishermen to improve safety measures. “If there is a disaster on land, the government has precautionary measures in place. But when something happens at sea, there is none,” he said.
A senior fisheries department official in Chennai said initial compensation had been provided to the affected families and added that operations continue to locate the two missing fishermen. Allegations of safety lapses would also be investigated, the official added.
The Fishing Harbour police said they registered a case on charges of negligence against boat owner Selva Azhagan on Thursday, on whose vessel the nine had set sail. He has obtained anticipatory bail from the Madras High Court, sources said.