Consul trying to account for Guyanese in hurricane-ravaged Bahamas

Jairam Mangra
Jairam Mangra

The Guyanese consulate in The Bahamas is working to locate several of the approximately 80 Guyanese families who have registered as residents of Grand Bahama as well as the significant number of  teachers who are operating in the public school system of the hurricane-ravaged island chain.

“A large number of Guyanese teachers remain unaccounted for. I am hoping to meet [today] with the Permanent Secretary and the Minister of Education to possibly account for these teachers and to ascertain the government’s plan for those teachers who are in the government system,” Honorary Consul for Guyana, Jairam Mangra told Stabroek News from The Bahamas last evening.

Mangra had just met with approximately a dozen Guyanese teachers who had been employed by the Catholic Board in the private school system. These teachers including Buxtonians Cecil and Olive Simon had been evacuated from Abaco and Grand Bahama.

The consul explained that the Director of Education has announced that they are looking to relocate those teachers displaced to other islands but that he has advised that they take time to question what facilities and amenities are present on these islands before they accept relocation.

Other information on the way forward remains sketchy as most agencies remain in fact-finding mode but the consul is also making efforts to have essentials such as water delivered to those nationals who have requested that type of assistance. 

Mangra noted that while numbers are not clear several of those affected in Grand Bahama have been evacuated to New Providence where they are staying with relatives while some chose to remain in Grand Bahama and are asking for relief supplies.

The difficulty, he explained is that while they have access to boats willing to make deliveries transport is curtailed.

“In Abaco for example boats are not allowed to dock,” he noted.

Additionally Guyanese have not registered with the consulate therefore there is no information as to the exact number of nationals and where they might have been located when Hurricane Dorian hit.

“From my records we have at 80 families who reside in Grand Bahama-East end, West end and Freeport. It is an extensive island so communication has been challenged but we have no reported casualties or fatalities among Guyanese in Grand Bahama. I’m not sure of what is happening in Abaco. We have 20 families registered there,” Mangra explained.

He noted that he has been in daily communication with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here and has been doing “leg work” to try and locate persons following the disruption in the telecommunication services.

“In many cases telephone calls are just not going through, the lines are too busy,” he explained.

While evacuation from The Bahamas to Guyana is not yet feasible Mangra stressed that he was available to provide documentation and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has assured that should documentation be required they will facilitate the provision. He advises any Guyanese national in need of assistance to approach emergency services identify themselves as Guyanese and ask for the consul to be informed.             

His offices are at Suite 12 Bayparl Building 18, Parliament Street, Nassau, The Bahamas. His office number is (+1 242) 328 2883 while his mobile number is (+1 242) 810-2424.

Those families in Guyana who have not been able to locate family members are advised by the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) to file missing person’s reports.                    

A statement from the RBPF on Sunday September 8 noted that officers had located and recovered 45 deceased persons from hurricane affected areas, 37 of these were from the Islands of Abaco and eight from Grand Bahama.

The statement said that the force anticipates finding more deceased persons.

Meanwhile, the Bahamas Civil Aviation Authority has restricted use of the airspace over Grand Bahama and Abacos. Only aircraft providing emergency and humanitarian relief authorised by Civil Aviation are permitted to fly in the restricted airspace.        

Bahamian media have reported that a Bahamasair aircraft carrying regional government officials including CARICOM Chairman, Prime Minister of St Lucia,  Allen Chastanet “had to make a ‘sudden drop in altitude’ while en route to Abaco to avoid a mid-air collision.”

According to the reports,  dignitaries including Bahamian Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis were headed to Abaco on Friday to assess hurricane recovery and relief efforts on that island when the incident occurred.

The pilot explained the drop in altitude over the aircraft’s intercom as being due to the Bahamasair aircraft having to avoid another aircraft that refused to respond”.

“We were all very fortunate that nothing more serious happened but this is a good example of why temporary air restrictions were put in place to allow only emergency and relief flights in the Abaco and Grand Bahama areas,” the report quoted Minnis as saying.