Thiruvananthapuram, India, Dec 6, 2017 / 00:20 am
At least 32 Catholic fishermen were killed when a tropical cyclone hit the southern coast of India over the weekend.
In addition, some 200 people are missing, and thousands of individuals have been displaced, after their homes were destroyed. The death toll is expected to rise.
The fishermen – who were all Catholic, according to local parish priest Fr. V. Wilfred of Vizhinjam – were not expecting stormy seas when they set out, according to UCA News. The fishermen were all from the Kerala and Tamil Nadu states.
Tropical Cyclone Ockhi began to develop near Sri Lanka last Thursday with heavy winds and rains. The hardest-hit region was the southwestern tip of India's coast near Kerala's capital, Thiruvananthapuram. The last major cyclone to hit that region was in 1941, making it a rare occurrence for the area.