A fishing boat from Tamil Nadu capsized off the coast of Andhra Pradesh, India, during Cyclone Murasu. There were nine fishermen on board. By the evening of Thursday, 5 November 2026, five of them had been found dead. The search for the other four goes on.
Earlier on 5 November, the Prakasam District Collector told the Press Trust of India (PTI) that four bodies had been recovered. Later reports by The Hindu and The Hans India put the number at five. Family members had identified four of the bodies by Thursday evening, The Hindu reports.
What happened
The trawler left Kasimedu fishing harbour in Chennai on 29 October, The Hans India reports. It went to fish near Nizampatnam in Andhra Pradesh. It carried food for ten days.
On 31 October, the Tamil Nadu Fisheries Department warned of the cyclone. It asked all fishing boats to shelter in the nearest harbour. The boat sheltered at Nizampatnam. Other boats from the same group sheltered at Ramayapatnam, further south.
On 3 November the nine men left Nizampatnam to join the other boats at Ramayapatnam. According to the District Collector, they did not tell the boat owner or the authorities in either state. The cyclone hit them on the way.
At about 03:00 on 3 November, another boat got a distress call from the crew, The Hans India reports. They said water had entered the engine room in the heavy rain and the engine had stopped. Their navigation system had also failed. They said they had drifted about 20 nautical miles. The boat then capsized near the coast at Kothapatnam, near Ongole. The Hindu says it sank about 2 km off the shore.
Cyclone Murasu was a severe cyclonic storm. It crossed the southern Andhra Pradesh coast early on Tuesday, 3 November.
The search
Local fishermen found the boat floating upright near Kothapatnam on the evening of 4 November. On 5 November, three bodies washed ashore at Kothapatnam beach. The Hindu says the Indian Coast Guard found two more in the sea near Nizampatnam.
The Indian Coast Guard is searching with a Dornier aircraft, together with the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in Chennai. An MRCC is the centre that runs search and rescue at sea in its area. The Coast Guard also sent a ship and a helicopter, The South First reports. Marine police and local fishermen are helping. Boats at sea have been asked by radio to look out for the missing men.
The boat carried eight life jackets and five life buoys for nine men, The Hans India reports. The authorities have not said if anyone was wearing a life jacket.
This is a different boat from the one in our earlier report. In that case, marine police rescued five fishermen near Krishnapatnam during the same cyclone.
What fishermen and small-boat crews can do
When a cyclone warning is out, stay in the safe harbour. Do not move to another port until the authorities say the sea is safe again.
Before you leave any port, tell the boat owner, the fisheries office and your family. Say where you are going, your route and when you expect to arrive. If nobody knows you left, nobody starts looking for you.
Carry a life jacket for every person on board, plus spares. Wear it on deck in bad weather. A boat can capsize in seconds.
Read how eight crew escaped a fishing boat fire off Gunsan because everyone wore a life jacket.
In bad weather, keep the engine room dry. Close hatches and doors, and check that the bilge pumps work before you sail.
Call for help early, while the radio and phone still work. Give your position, the number of people on board and what is wrong.
In India, the Indian Coast Guard search and rescue number is 1554. It is free and works from mobile phones at sea. On VHF radio, call on channel 16.
If your boat has a distress alert transmitter (DAT), learn how to use it before you sail. It sends your position to the Coast Guard by satellite.
If the boat capsizes but still floats, stay with it. A boat is much easier for rescuers to see than a person in the water.
Find emergency numbers and help lines for seafarers in Crewboard's useful links.
Cover photo: Fishing boats at Kasimedu fishing harbour in Chennai, August 2015. Illustrative photo, not the boat in this story. Photo: Sriram Jagannathan/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Sources: The Hindu: Bodies of five fishermen from Tamil Nadu found near Kothapatnam beach in Andhra Pradesh (5 Nov 2026), The Hans India: Five bodies of missing Tamil Nadu fishermen found off Andhra coast (5 Nov 2026), India Today / PTI: Cyclone Murasu boat capsize: four Tamil Nadu fishermen dead, five missing (5 Nov 2026), The South First: Cyclone Murasu proves fatal for fishermen (5 Nov 2026), Indian Coast Guard: National Maritime Search and Rescue Manual 2020 (toll-free SAR number 1554), Press Information Bureau: Coast Guard community interaction programme for fishermen (SAR helpline 1554, distress alert transmitter).
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