St Vincent residents who have not had their Covid jabs are BANNED from being evacuated onto cruise ships after two volcanic eruptions on the Caribbean island, PM announces
Sam Baker and Lydia Catling and Charlotte Mitchell For Mailonline, 11 April 2021
(https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9458673/Only-St-Vincent-residents-whove-Covid-jabs-evacuated-cruise-ships-PM-announces.html)
The Prime Minister of St. Vincent has announced that only those residents of the Caribbean island who have received their Covid-19 vaccinations will be evacuated following the two explosions from the La Soufriere volcano.
The volcano on the eastern Caribbean island of St. Vincent erupted for a second time as thousands of residents were ordered to evacuate.
A second explosion of the La Soufriere volcano was observed on Friday, six hours after it erupted for the first time in more than 40 years yesterday morning.
Earlier today, the island’s emergency management organisation Nemo tweeted to confirm that the majority of the country was experiencing power outages as a result of another explosive event.
Their tweet read: ”Massive power outage following another explosive event at La Soufriere Volcano. Lightning, thunder and rumblings. Majority of the country out of power and covered in ash.’
Speaking at a press conference yesterday, St. Vincent Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves confirmed that only those who had been vaccinated against coronavirus would be allowed to board cruise ships which had volunteered to evacuate residents.
He said: ‘The chief medical officer would be identifying the persons already vaccinated so that we can get them on the ship.’
Gonsalves also said that residents who haven’t received a vaccine but are likely to have received it in time to join the cruise ship evacuations would not be allowed to board because of possible side effects such as ‘wooziness in the head’.
While out conducting fieldwork, the University of the West Indies Seismic Center team witnessed the volcano explode for a second time, with a vertical ash column estimated to have reached around 2miles (4km) into the atmosphere – smaller than the first which is estimated to have risen as high as 10 kilometers (6 miles).
Experts have warned that explosive eruptions could continue for days, or possibly weeks, and emergency aid supplies, such as cots, tents and respirator masks, have poured in from neighbouring nations.
Ash and smoke plunged parts of the island into near total darkness, blotting out the bright morning sun, said witnesses. The thick ash later covered the area, including people and vehicles.
Updating the public at 8pm, the University of the West Indies Seismic Center said vigorous ash venting had resumed at La Soufriere at approximately 2:45 pm.
Lightning was also seen in the ash column during the night, which the center said was due to its highly charged nature.
Erouscilla Joseph, director of the University of the West Indies Seismic Center, said a column of ash from the initial explosion is estimated to have risen as high as 10 kilometers (6 miles) on Friday – forcing the cancellation of several flights while falling ash limited evacuations in some areas due to poor visibility.
She said: ‘This is just the beginning. There is heavy ashfall in the near vicinity. More explosions could occur.’
She added this kind of activity could go on for weeks if not months and said it was impossible to predict whether any potential upcoming explosions would be bigger or smaller than the first.
The volcano last erupted in 1979, and a previous eruption in 1902 killed some 1,600 people.
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