The bodies of two of the five missing sailors of ship MT Pratibha Cauvery, which was grounded by cyclone Nilam, have been found. One of the bodies was washed ashore near the Chennai harbour while the other was found near Adyar Estuary. Both the bodies are yet to be identified. Meanwhile, the three other missing sailors remain untraceable. The ship had run aground near the Besant Nagar beach in Chennai on Wednesday. The five sailors went missing after a lifeboat they were using to leave the ship capsized. The death toll in the tragedy is two now. Coast Guard helicopters had on Thursday rescued 15 trapped sailors from the ship. The initial rescue operations on the day of the cyclone were carried out by fishermen.
When the cyclone made its landfall, the ship's captain had sent out a distress call, but got no response. The Coast Guard and the Tamil Nadu government's Coastal Security Group were unable to launch rescue operations immediately as the gusty winds and bad weather didn't allow it. Chennai Port officials said the ship's captain had ignored instructions to leave for safe waters following the cyclone alert.