Antiguans rescued from Sint Maarten after Hurricane Irma

A partnership between the governments of Antigua & Barbuda and the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago made possible the evacuation of roughly 60 civilians from Sint Maarten yesterday.
Shenella Govia, a senator assigned to the prime minister’s office, told OBSERVER media that the evacuees were either stranded Antiguan shoppers or Trinidadian nationals residing in Sint Maarten, all of whom who were displaced when Hurricane Irma struck the island on Wednesday.
On the first helicopter trip on Monday, six Antiguans and six Trinidadians arrived before noon, with five more trips scheduled for later that day.
Moments after the helicopter landed at the V.C. Bird International Airport, one evacuee said that she is grateful to the two governments for organizing the evacuation. Giving an account of the situation in Sint Maarten, she explained that the nation is in a state of chaos with looting and petty theft in abundance.
“Ninety-five per cent of them have nothing to go back to. Their roofs are blown off completely. The windows are gone. The clothes on their back is all they have. Some of them bring back their wet clothes and try to wash it out with liquid soap in the toilet,” said the Trinidadian woman who has been living on the island for four months. She explained that many other residents, of both the Dutch and French sides of the island, want to “escape” from the turmoil Irma left.
“Uncle Sam send for his people, and they were feeling hurt to know well that king or prince or whatever not coming around the shelter to talk to the people. So they don’t know how soon relief will come or if the foods from the Marines will run out.”
(More in today’s Daily Observer)