MAHUVA: Navy helicopters scoured the sea Thursday for 89 people missing after a major cyclone slammed India, adding to the country’s woes as it suffered a record number of Covid-19 deaths. Pummeling the western coast late Tuesday, Cyclone Tauktae was the latest in what experts say is a growing number of ever-bigger storms in the Arabian Sea because of climate change warming its waters. But planes and helicopters were still searching for 89 workers missing from one of several support vessels that slipped its moorings in the storm and sank. Jha, head of the Naval Western Command, said that the sea was so rough that they could not board life rafts. Even before the cyclone made landfall in Gujarat state with gusts up to 185 kilometers (115 miles) per hour, associated heavy rains and strong winds killed around 20 people in western and southern India.

Source: Manila Times May 19, 2021 08:46 UTC