The death toll from a cyclone that hit southern India rose to 20 on Friday as people started to return to their homes after the storm died down. Cyclone Nilam, packing winds with speeds of up to 100 kilometres per hour, made landfall Wednesday at Mahabalipuram in the Tamil Nadu state. Some 13,000 people from low-lying areas in Tamil Nadu and the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh state were evacuated. Tamil Nadu disaster management chief Jitendra Nath Swain said five more deaths had been reported in rain-related incidents in the state since Thursday. Separately, bodies of three of the five missing sailors of an oil tanker that ran aground off Chennai, were found washed ashore, broadcaster NDTV reported.
