Hurricane Irma Helped 40 ‘High Risk’ Prisoners Escape in the Caribbean

Storm damage is seen from the air after hurricane Irma passed Tortola, in the British Virgin Islands on Sept. 11, 2017. (Captain George Eatwell RM/Ministry of Defence handout via Reuters)

There’s more bad news for the Caribbean.

Forty “high risk” prisoners escaped from a prison on the British Virgin Islands during the widespread destruction of Hurricane Irma.

The news, which was not made public, was revealed when a journalist snapped a photo of some cabinet memos and tweeted the photo out to the public.

One of the points in the memo says: “We are working with St Lucia and BVI authorities to secure the transfer to St Lucia of 40 high-risk prisoners that have escaped in BVI,” according to the Sept. 12 tweet from the photo-journalist.

The 40 prisoners who escaped were still on the loose as of Wednesday morning, Sept. 14, the New York Post reported.

The British Virgin Islands is a British overseas territory in the Carribean, made up of 4 main islands and other smaller ones. There have also been reports of a huge prison break in the largest island of the territory, Tortola.

The prison in Tortola was allegedly blown up allowing the inmates to escape. Many tourists were trapped in their hotels and reported violence and looting, according to the Telegraph.

Richard Branson on Tuesday said that the British Virgin Islands were in dire need of resources.

“Extreme sense of urgency to get aid supplies into #BVI. Bringing essential supplies, food, water, and aid today https://virg.in/ofu  #Irma” Branson tweeted on Tuesday, Sept. 12.

Richard Branson’s son, Sam, spoke in a video update on Monday of the chaos on the islands and that prisoners were still on the loose.

“I’ve been getting some updates on the ground out there on the British Virgin Islands and it’s really sad to say that there is a lot of civil unrest,” Sam said in an Instagram post on Sept. 11. “Unfortunately some of the prisoners have escaped and are now armed.”

Sam said that more aid was needed to the islands and urged the British government to give more support.

According to the New York Post, over 700 British troops and 50 police officers have already been sent to the British Virgin Islands to ensure the safety of citizens and to help restore peace.

Claudia Knight, a Briton who runs an art school in Tortola told the Daily Mail that the military is “everywhere with machine guns.”

“Everyone’s turned feral and no one’s going out without being armed,” she told the Press Association. “You can’t drive your car without a weapon, it’s turning really nasty.”

From NTD.tv