Dutch government: 2 dead, 43 wounded on Saint Martin

Red Cross activates its
Hurricane Irma has severely damaged one of the most famous airports in the world
Author

11 September, 2017

Earlier this week, Irma, with maximum sustained wind speed of 360 km per hour, demolished French Caribbean islands through its path before downgrading from category 5 to category 4 on Friday.

Sint Maarten, as it is known in Dutch, is an independent nation within the Kingdom of the Netherlands with a population of around 40,000 people, about the same as on the French side of the island. He added that most communication with other countries is being conducted by the military. Officials also said six out of 10 homes were so badly damaged that they were uninhabitable.

"Shots have been fired, but not in a structured fashion", Major General Richard Oppelaar, the commander of the Marine Corps, told reporters in The Hague.

Americans evacuated from Dutch-controlled St. Maarten amid reports of looting and violence.

The airport was closed before the storm struck the area but it could take a few days before it is reopened. "The prison on St. Maarten is now fully guarded by Dutch soldiers".

"The situation is very serious".

On Wednesday, Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte said in a statement that the island of St. Martin was among those that "have unfortunately been hit hard". Almost 50,000 also were without water.

In a statement Sunday, the Dutch foreign ministry said the island had suffered "little inconvenience from wind and rain that can't be tackled with fix and clean-up operations".

Some 230 Dutch troops are already on the island, and another 100 will arrive by Monday.


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