9 Fishers Died at Sea: HC Tells Owner to Pay More

Nine fishermen from Kasimedu in Chennai went to sea on 29 October 2026 and never came home. Cyclone Murasu sank their boat off the Andhra Pradesh coast. Now, nine days after the tragedy, the Madras High Court has stepped in — and told the boat owner that what he has paid their families so far is not enough.

On Wednesday, 11 November 2026, Justice V Lakshminarayanan directed boat owner T Selvazhagan to work out a far higher compensation for the nine families — calculated on the same formula used for the families of road-accident victims. The court will hear the matter again on Monday, 16 November 2026.

The order matters because it reframes what a fisherman’s life is worth when he dies at work. The owner’s offer so far — ₹50,000 paid to each family, plus ₹2.5 lakh each from insurance — was described by the judge as a paltry sum. What the families should actually receive will now be measured against the yardstick courts use when a breadwinner dies on the road: age, income, number of dependents, and years of lost earnings.

The court order at a glance

What	Detail
Court	Madras High Court, Justice V Lakshminarayanan
Date of order	Wednesday, 11 November 2026
Who must pay more	Boat owner T Selvazhagan, of Kasimedu, Chennai
How much more	Not fixed yet — the owner must work it out using the motor-accident-claims formula
Paid so far (owner’s submission)	₹50,000 to each family; ₹2.5 lakh each more expected from insurance
Next hearing	Monday, 16 November 2026
What the court will check then	Whether the wives of three of the fishermen really withdrew their complaints, as the owner claims

What the judge actually said

The hearing was not about the cyclone. It was about a petition filed by the boat owner himself, asking the court to restrain the police from taking coercive action against him. The owner had already been booked after a complaint that he compelled the crew to put to sea despite the warnings.

Justice Lakshminarayanan, hearing that petition, expressed shock that the fishermen died off the Andhra Pradesh coast even though some of them had alerted their family members and their employer about the danger before the boat went down. That detail — that the men knew they were in trouble and said so — is now part of the court record.

When the owner’s advocate, P Vijayendran, told the court that Selvazhagan had paid ₹50,000 to each of the nine families and that they would receive another ₹2.5 lakh each from the insurance amount, the judge questioned the rationale behind offering such a small sum. He directed the owner to calculate the compensation by taking into account the formula used in motor accident claims — the system under which tribunals award compensation to the families of road-accident victims based on the deceased person’s age, earnings and dependents.

The judge also asked Additional Public Prosecutor Arun Anbumani to obtain the details of the incident, and adjourned the hearing to 16 November after the prosecutor sought time to verify the petitioner’s claim that the wives of three of the fishermen had withdrawn their complaints. That claim has not been verified yet, and the court has not accepted it as fact.

What happened at sea

The nine men were crew on a trawler owned by Selvazhagan. They left Kasimedu, Chennai’s largest fishing harbour, on Thursday, 29 October 2026. The boat was driven by Pakkirisamy, also known as Suriya, aged 49. A cyclone warning was already in force by 31 October, and Cyclone Murasu was closing on the Andhra coast.

At around 3 am on Tuesday, 3 November, the crew made a distress call: the engine had failed, water was entering the engine room, and the navigation system was broken. The boat drifted roughly 20 nautical miles before it sank. Murasu itself made landfall near Kothapatnam, close to Ongole, at about 1 am the same morning, with winds of 110–120 kmph.

Date	What happened
Thu, 29 Oct 2026	Trawler leaves Kasimedu with nine crew
Sat, 31 Oct 2026	Cyclone warning in force; crew already at sea
Tue, 3 Nov 2026, ~3 am	Distress call — engine failed, water in engine room, navigation broken
Tue, 3 Nov 2026, ~1 am	Cyclone Murasu makes landfall near Kothapatnam, Ongole; 110–120 kmph winds
5–6 Nov 2026	Five bodies recovered near Kothapatnam; search intensified
Fri, 7 Nov 2026	Seven bodies recovered; two fishermen — Rajesh and Narayanan — still missing
Wed, 11 Nov 2026	Madras High Court directs owner to pay higher compensation
Mon, 16 Nov 2026	Next hearing

Two of the nine men — Rajesh and Narayanan — were still missing when the latest confirmed reports were published on 7 November. No newer official update on their status had been published at the time of writing. The Tamil Nadu government has announced a solatium of ₹7 lakh for each of the nine families, with ₹2 lakh paid immediately.

Questions about the boat itself have been raised since the first days of the search. Reports in the days after the sinking said the boat lacked mandatory safety gear, proper commercial insurance and regulatory documents. The fishermen’s association said the crew carried only a basic insurance component worth about ₹1 lakh. The police case against the owner rests on the complaint that the crew were sent to sea despite the warnings.

What the families have received so far

Payment	Amount per family	Status
Boat owner (paid directly)	₹50,000	Paid, as submitted to the court by the owner’s advocate
Insurance amount	₹2,50,000	Expected, as submitted to the court — not confirmed as paid
Tamil Nadu government solatium	₹7,00,000	Announced; ₹2,00,000 paid immediately
Additional compensation (court-directed)	Not fixed yet	Owner must work it out on the motor-accident-claims formula; court reviews on 16 Nov

Read the table carefully: only two of those four rows are money actually in the families’ hands. The ₹2.5 lakh insurance figure is what the owner’s advocate told the court the families “would receive” — it is not a confirmed payout. And the court-directed additional compensation does not exist yet as a number. The 16 November hearing is when the court will see what the owner has calculated — and whether the families, and the prosecutor, accept it.

For comparison, the national safety net for registered fishers is the Group Accident Insurance Scheme (GAIS) under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana, which covers accidental death up to ₹5 lakh, permanent total disability up to ₹5 lakh, permanent partial disability up to ₹2.5 lakh, and hospitalisation up to ₹25,000. Whether each of the nine Kasimedu fishermen was individually enrolled under GAIS has not been confirmed in the reports checked for this article — families in this situation should check enrolment with their district fisheries office, because the claim timelines under the scheme are strict: the death must be reported within 120 days and the complete claim filed within 180 days.

The damage is still being counted: 143 boats in one village

The nine deaths are the human cost of Murasu. The material cost is still being counted along the Andhra coast. In Gundamala village in Kothapatnam mandal of Prakasam district — the same stretch of coast where the Kasimedu trawler went down — 143 of the village’s 164 fishing boats were damaged by the cyclone, including 15 large boats and 25 medium-sized ones.

The fibre boats had been moored among the mangrove forests where the sea meets a small stretch of the Buckingham Canal. In the gale-force winds and heavy rain they collided with each other and were smashed. On Thursday, 12 November, fishermen were still hauling the boats out of the mangroves by hand and with hired earth-moving equipment — and the operators were charging ₹10,000 to retrieve each large boat and ₹6,000 for each small one, money the fishermen have to find themselves.

There are about 450 fishermen in Gundamala. The Fisheries Department has not yet assessed the overall value of the damage, so no compensation figure exists for the village yet. The boats remain trapped among the mangrove vegetation, and work to bring them back into the canal has been delayed because heavy machinery brought in to install electricity poles is blocking the way.

Gundamala is one village. Murasu crossed the coast as a very severe cyclonic storm on 28 October, with sustained winds of 125–135 kmph gusting to 150 kmph, and preliminary total losses in Andhra Pradesh were estimated at about ₹4,600 crore, with aquaculture losses alone at about ₹176.82 crore. The full fisheries damage bill will take weeks to compile.

Another system is coming: fishermen told to return by tonight

Even as the Murasu damage is being counted, the next weather system is already forming. The India Meteorological Department has forecast a fresh low-pressure area over the southeast Bay of Bengal on Friday, 13 November, strengthening into a well-marked low-pressure area by 14 November and a depression around 15 November. Squally weather with winds of 40–50 kmph, gusting to 65 kmph, is expected over the Andaman Sea and the southeast Bay of Bengal.

The Tamil Nadu Department of Fisheries and Fishermen Welfare has issued an urgent advisory: all deep-sea fishing vessels and traditional country boats operating along the eastern coast must return to shore by midnight on Thursday, 12 November. Fishing tokens will not be issued to trawlers or mechanised boats from Friday until further notice.

Date	What is expected / advised
Thu, 12 Nov 2026 (tonight)	All Tamil Nadu fishing vessels must return to shore by midnight
Fri, 13 Nov 2026	Low-pressure area likely to form over southeast Bay of Bengal; no fishing tokens issued from today
Sat, 14 Nov 2026	System likely to become a well-marked low-pressure area
Sun, 15 Nov 2026	Depression likely; squally winds 40–50 kmph, gusting to 65 kmph
Until Mon, 16 Nov 2026	IMD advises fishermen not to venture into the Andaman Sea

The warning is a direct lesson from the Kasimedu tragedy: the nine men died because they were at sea when the cyclone struck, after a warning was already in force. This time the advisory has gone out before the system forms. Fishermen who are still at sea should head back now, not tomorrow.

What fishing families should do now

If your family lost someone at sea: keep every document — the fisherman’s registration, identity proof, the boat’s papers, and any record of the voyage. Compensation claims, whether from the owner, the insurer or the government, all run on paperwork. Note the 16 November hearing date if you are following the Kasimedu case.

Check your insurance enrolment today: under GAIS, accidental death cover is ₹5 lakh for registered fishers aged 18–70, with the premium shared 60:40 between the Centre and the state. But enrolment is not automatic everywhere, and claims have hard deadlines — report the death within 120 days and file the complete claim within 180 days. Ask at your district fisheries office whether you are enrolled, and get the answer in writing.

Do not pay anyone who offers to enrol you in a scheme: government compensation and insurance enrolment are free. Anyone asking for a fee to register you for relief, or to speed up a claim, is not acting for the government.

If your boat was damaged: photograph the damage before you move or repair anything, keep the repair bills, and report the loss to your district fisheries office and your village fisheries society. In Odisha, the state’s Cyclone Arnab relief package fixed boat assistance at ₹22,500 for inland boats and ₹60,000 for marine and Chilika boats, with ₹15,000 for nets — Andhra Pradesh’s Murasu damage assessment has not been published yet, so the figures for Gundamala and other villages will depend on that assessment.

If you are at sea now: return to shore by tonight, 12 November. Do not wait for the weather to turn. The IMD’s no-venture advice runs until 16 November for the Andaman Sea and parts of the Bay of Bengal.

Frequently asked questions

How much will the nine families finally get?
Nobody knows yet — and anyone quoting a final figure is guessing. The court has directed the owner to calculate the amount using the motor-accident-claims formula, which takes into account the deceased person’s age, income and dependents. The court will review that calculation on 16 November 2026.

Is the ₹7 lakh government solatium separate from the court-ordered payment?
Yes. The ₹7 lakh solatium (₹2 lakh paid immediately) was announced by the Tamil Nadu government. The court-directed payment is from the boat owner, on top of whatever the government and the insurer pay.

What is the motor-accident-claims formula?
It is the method motor accident claims tribunals use to compensate the families of road-accident victims: broadly, the deceased person’s annual income, minus personal expenses, multiplied by a factor based on their age, plus amounts for loss of consortium and funeral expenses. The judge’s point is that a fisherman’s life should be valued by the same measure as any other worker’s.

Why does the court care that the fishermen warned their families?
Because it goes to whether the crew were sent to sea knowing the danger. The judge noted his shock that the men died despite having alerted their families and their employer about the impending danger. That fact is central to the police case against the owner.

What about the two fishermen still missing?
Rajesh and Narayanan were still missing in the last confirmed reports, published on 7 November. No newer official update on their status had been published when this article was written. Their families are covered by the same ₹7 lakh solatium announcement.

Can families claim under GAIS as well?
If the fisherman was enrolled under the Group Accident Insurance Scheme, yes — up to ₹5 lakh for accidental death. Enrolment varies by state and year, so families should confirm it with the district fisheries office, and remember the 120-day reporting and 180-day filing deadlines.

Why this case matters beyond nine families

The Kasimedu case is about nine men, but the question it raises applies to every fishing village on the east coast. When a fisherman dies at sea, the money his family receives has usually been whatever the owner offers, whatever basic insurance exists, and whatever the government announces. There has been no standard measure of what that life was worth.

The Madras High Court has now supplied one: the same measure used for a road-accident victim. If the 16 November hearing produces a substantial figure, it will set a reference point that other families, other owners and other courts will have to reckon with. And if the owner returns with a low number, the court will have to decide whether to fix the amount itself.

Meanwhile the sea is not waiting. Another low-pressure system is forming in the Bay of Bengal, fishermen have been told to return by tonight, and in Gundamala 143 damaged boats are still stuck in the mangroves. The compensation question and the safety question are the same question: how much is a fisherman’s life and livelihood worth — before the next storm, not after it.

The images in this post are illustrations. Figures are as reported by the sources below, checked on 12 November 2026.

Sources

The New Indian Express, 12 November 2026 — “Murasu deaths: Madras HC directs additional aid to fishers’ families” (court order, ₹50,000 + ₹2.5 lakh, motor-accident formula, 16 November hearing).
The Hindu, 12 November 2026 — “Cyclone Murasu damages 143 fishing boats at Gundamala village in Prakasam district” (143 of 164 boats, retrieval charges, damage not yet assessed).
The Week, 12 November 2026, and News Today Net, 12 November 2026 — IMD low-pressure forecast and Tamil Nadu Fisheries Department return-by-midnight advisory.
Background on the sinking, the crew and the ₹7 lakh solatium: The New Indian Express, The Hindu, The News Minute, Deccan Chronicle and Press Trust of India reports of 5–7 November 2026, as verified for our earlier report on the tragedy.
Group Accident Insurance Scheme figures: Press Information Bureau, 24 March 2026; enrolment and claim timelines: Rajya Sabha answer, 29 July 2026.

Honest notes: no final compensation figure has been fixed — the 16 November hearing will review the owner’s calculation, so this article quotes none. The ₹2.5 lakh insurance figure is the owner’s advocate’s submission to the court, not a confirmed payout. The status of the two missing fishermen, Rajesh and Narayanan, is as last confirmed on 7 November 2026; no newer official update was found. One aggregator report carried an inconsistent figure for the number of deaths; it was not used — the figure of nine is confirmed by The New Indian Express, The Hindu and the court’s own proceedings.