Some 5,000 Tamil Nadu fishermen went missing Sunday following a tsunami in the Bay of Bengal triggered by a massive earthquake in Indonesia, local police said.

Indo-Asia News Service quoted the police in Chennai, capital city of Tamil Nadu, as saying that some 5,000 fishermen from the state were out at sea when the tidal waves struck and there has been no word of them so far.

Most of those who died onshore were children and elderly peoplecaught unawares as the rising waters inundated their shanties on the coastline.

Home Minister Shivraj Patil said earlier in the day that more than 1,000 people have died of the tidal waves in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh states in southern India.

The army and navy have been called in for rescue operations.

Chennai police have confirmed 150 deaths on the city's waterfront, with more than 1,000 casualties along the eastern coast of the state.

Chief Minister J. Jayalalitha is undertaking a helicopter survey of the entire coastline, the report said.

About 2,000 fishermen were evacuated from Urroor Kuppamm in southern Chennai, the report added.

Electricity was switched off all along the 300-km-long coast for about four hours Sunday morning to prevent accidents.