Hurricane Irma: French rescue planes 'refuse to take Brit tourists' stranded in Caribbean
BRITISH holidaymakers left stranded on a Hurricane Irma-hit Caribbean island said French and Dutch evacuation planes refuse to take them on because they have no permission to take “refugees” from the UK.
Families of those trapped on the worst hit islands say there has been no information or help despite growing lawlessness and thousands of people being left with limited supplies of food and water.
Ross and Lesley McEwan, from Cambourne in Cambridgeshire, had been on holiday in the Dutch part of St Maarten - the northern half of which is French territory.
After Hurricane Irma hit, the couple, both in their early 60s, queued up at the airport for 14 hours only to be told that “nobody wants to take [them]”, the Telegraph reported.
Their daughter Kirsty Shephard received a text message from her mother saying: "French flew with three quarter empty plane because they couldn't get permission for 'refugees'. Back to resort."
The British response has been absolutely pitiful, it’s just sheer incompetence
Dutch, French, American and Canadian citizens have been evacuated from St Maarten, while British citizens have reportedly been told that the UK Foreign Office has not made any evacuation plans.
Ms Shephard said: "There is no electricity, no running water, no toilets and very limited food and water. They were told initially there was enough for three days and now we are on day five.
"They are just trying to get off the island and queue at the airport, where there is very little shelter, from 5.30am till 8pm."
Another holidaymaker, Amy Brown, 36, has also been left stranded on the island after she was unable to evacuate before the storm hit.
Her father Geoffrey Scott-Baker said: "They are just trying to survive. They are being told to go to the airport each day but the Dutch and the French are just looking after their own, if you have got the wrong passport then you don't fly.
"The scale of this is that it would take just one passenger jet, just a plane that could carry up to 150 people, to get them all out. They just need to get to Antigua which is a 30-minute flight, we are not asking big favours like getting them back to Europe."
“The British response has been absolutely pitiful, it’s just sheer incompetence, callous disregard for our British citizens.”
But Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson told Radio 4’s Today programme the criticisms were “completely unjustified”.
He said: “In St Maarten, which is Dutch let’s not forget, we have been evacuating people according to their medical need and some British nationals actually have been evacuated.
“We are in constant contact with the Dutch or the French. We really don’t want more people going onto the island as it is a disaster zone so it is really up to them to get them off.”
A Foreign Office spokesman said: “We have been in regular contact with the Dutch and the Americans since the onset of this crisis to co-ordinate our response and help for all those affected.
Fallon defends the UK's response to Hurricane Irma
“We understand that evacuation is based on individual need, rather than nationality, with the most vulnerable prioritised. It is not due to the lack of an arrangement. Indeed a number of British citizens have been evacuated from the island by the US.
“We are in touch with British nationals on St Maarten and have advised them to follow the local advice on the ground. While we are unable to get a consular team to Saint Maarten, we have deployed staff to Curacao to help British nationals evacuated there from Saint Maarten.”
Yesterday, Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon dismissed complaints that the UK respond was “found wanting” and that it was slower than that of other countries.
He said: "There's an unprecedented effort going on by the UK to meet what has been an unprecedented catastrophe in that part of the Caribbean."