4 Fishermen Feared Lost of Mentawai Islands

Searchers have been hampered by bad weather and have found no trace of 4 Padang fisherment lost when their 10m motor boat capsized in rough seas south of Sipura Island on Saturday. Wind over tide can create extremely dangerous conditions in the shallow straits between North Pagai Island and Sipora and their is little hope of finding survivors.

One designated cyclone 'Floyd' and two revolving tropical storm centers with cyclone potential have linked up accross the Indian Ocean. Weather experts in Australia say this is a very occurance. Meanwhile Sumatra's West coast has experienced some of the most severe gales and heaviest rain every recorded for the month of March.

It is unclear how the cyclones interact with coastal weather off Sumatra but operators in the area have noticed a clear relationship with Typhoons in the NE Pacific and severe westerly storms off Sumatra in the past. The satellite images show cloud patterns that indicate that the combined pull of the three lows is generating strong northerly winds off the coast of Sumatra.