“Only fishermen from  Kanniyakumari district are involved in deep sea fishing in Arabian Sea. They were alerted with the help of the gadgets. After receiving the alert, they have started returning to the shore,” he said, after holding a review meeting with the officials of his department at Ezhilagam. 

Udhayakumar also said that people need not panic as the red alert does not mean that there will be a calamity. 

“It is an alert to the officials concerned to take all necessary steps in case of any calamity,” he said. 

Speaking to DT Next, Anish Thomas, a fisherman from Chinnathurai fishing hamlet in Kanniyakumari district, said he had received the cyclone alert through Navtex, an international automated medium frequency service used to pass emergency information about natural calamities in the sea. 

He has safely returned to the shore.