A petition has been filed before the Kerala High Court seeking compensation for those fishermen who are unable to continue fishing due to the mental trauma from Okhi cyclone. The petition filed by Elias John of Statute in Thriuvananthapuram said he has come across several fishermen who have lost the courage and will power to venture back into the sea on account of the psychological trauma they suffered from the cyclone while they were at sea. Many of the fishermen who were out fishing when the cyclone struck had to face a nightmarish ordeal for more than 48 hours, when the cyclone subsided and they were rescued. Most of the fishermen are traditional fishermen who use country boats, which cannot take much thrashing at sea, whereas even fishermen with bigger, stronger, and well-equipped trawlers were killed or lost at sea during the cyclone, the petition filed through advocate C Unnikrishnan said. The fishermen who are living victims’ saw their boats getting destroyed, their colleagues dying, and they had to face very high waves and high-velocity, howling winds. They repeatedly ingested water and had to struggle to get some air to breathe. They were thrown around in the sea continuously for many hours, even at night, without any food, water, or any sort of nourishment. They are now deeply traumatized and unable to venture out to sea to eke out a living, the petition said while pointing out that the authorities have not recognized the plight of the living victims’ of Ockhi.