In brief
In the wake of Cyclone Murasu, authorities in Andhra Pradesh recovered the bodies of four fishermen who had been caught on a fishing trip from Tamil Nadu. The group originally sailed on October 29, and their boat capsized about two kilometres from the shore, leaving nine men in danger. While three bodies washed to the coast and a fourth was retrieved by the Coast Guard, five fishermen are still unaccounted for and searches by local officials and the Indian Coast Guard continue.
At least four fishermen were recovered dead in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh on Thursday, after they were caught in Cyclone Murasu and their boat capsized about two kilometres from the shore, a local government official confirmed.
The victims, all from the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu, had set out together in a single fishing boat on October 29. The vessel was struck by the early‑morning gale that marked the arrival of Murasu in the region, causing it to flip and sink near the coast of Andhra Pradesh.
Three of the deceased were washed ashore and found near Kothapatnam beach, while a fourth body was recovered by Indian Coast Guard officials from the sea. The bodies were brought back to authorities at a nearby damage control centre for identification.
In a statement, senior government official Raja Babu said:
“My team has been in contact with counterparts in Tamil Nadu regarding the missing fishermen, and we are making efforts to locate them.”
According to the Xinhua report, nine fishermen in total were on the boat. The cyclone’s force swept the craft off course and capsized it, leaving the men unable to escape. The state’s disaster response teams, along with the Indian Coast Guard, launched a search and rescue operation that involved aerial surveillance, sonar sweeps, and coordinated patrols along the coastline.
Search efforts focused on the area where the boat was believed to have overturned, roughly two kilometres offshore from Kothapatnam. Divers and sonar units combed the sea floor, while surface vessels conducted visual searches in the wake zones where drifting debris had been reported.
Despite the official recovery of four bodies, the International Maritime Organization and local maritime authorities report that five fishermen are still missing. No wreckage of the boat itself has been publicly located, and the exact position of the remains of the missing men remains unknown.
The local news agencies have covered the incident extensively, highlighting the dangers that fishermen face during sudden cyclonic storms. Testimonials from other fishing crews along the coast warn that the early deployment of storm surge alerts may be incomplete, leading to missing boats during such unexpected weather events.
At the time of the incident, Cyclone Murasu had already brought record rainfall and high winds to the eastern coast of India. The cyclone’s trajectory took it close to the coast on Tuesday, creating hazardous conditions for mariners, and prompted authorities to post mandatory coastal alerts and advise fishermen to vacate the water if possible. In this case, the group had apparently been out at sea for several hours before the storm’s intensity increased rapidly.
The Andhra Pradesh Disaster Management Authority stated that it had mobilized the coast guard, navy, and air force units for a coordinated search effort. The Indian Coast Guard’s regular search area was expanded to include a corridor stretching from Kothapatnam to the nearby village of Guntakal, where fishermen had originally sailed. Additional resources, including small patrol boats and night‑vision equipment, were deployed to improve the chance of locating the missing men.
While the exact cause of the boat’s capsizing has yet to be confirmed, local maritime safety investigators are reportedly examining the stability of the craft and the load it carried during the storm. In the interim, the authorities have issued a warning to local fishermen to heed cyclonic warnings and take precautionary measures to avoid similar tragedies.
Although four bodies have been recovered and identified, the public and the families of the missing fishermen caution that the outcome remains uncertain. The information that is still pending includes the precise circumstances of the missing men’s disappearance, the final location of the capsized vessel, and whether additional wreckage will be found that could provide clues about the disaster’s exact sequence of events. These unresolved points are still being investigated by the authorities and are subject to further updates as new findings emerge.