Mike Moriarty and Meryl Zavitz from Ajax, Ont. have been desperately trying to get out of St. Maarten since before Hurricane Irma hit the island a few days ago.
But getting a flight out of St. Maarten had proven to be very difficult.
In an text to his sister Monique Balmforth dated September 9th, which she shared with Global News, Moriarty writes: “We were able to get to the airport today, massive lineup, saw a Sunwing jet but unable to get aboard before it left, Dutch military wouldn’t allow us to show our passports, we had to get in line and it took off. Was our best hope. When we finally got to the front of the line we were told only Americans were allowed on the remaining planes.”
READ MORE: Canadian med students who fled St. Maarten urge Ottawa to help peers stranded by Irma
The text prompted Balmforth to turn to social media and members of the media to try and get the Canadian government to help her brother and sister-in-law get home safely.
Balmforth tells Global News government officials have reached out to her advising her to call the Global Affairs number and to reach out via email. She says she has done both and is waiting to hear back.
WATCH: Hurricane Irma: St. Maarten tourists survey damage caused by massive storm
In the meantime, there is some good news for Moriarty and Zavitz. Shortly after her interview with Global News, Balmforth received a text from her brother. She shared that text with Global News:
“So we’re in mid-air… We were saved by a small Caribbean airline, Seaborne, run by Hector Montanez, an incredible humanitarian. It wasn’t Sunwing, it wasn’t WestJet, it certainly wasn’t Air Canada. We asked Seaborne after we got in the air how they would take payment and they said it was on them that this was/is a rescue mission. The Canadians on this plane feel that they have the best friends and advocates at home, the best help possible from the resort personnel, military and police on St Maarten, and from total strangers, but that our government left us, Canadian citizens, in a situation that they, the gov’t, continually rescues refugees from. None of the Canadians that we have met have heard one chirp from our government beyond the apparently automated email advising to go to a shelter, a phenomenally dangerous option especially given the rampant lawlessness. We have just landed in San Juan Puerto Rico, will figure out how to get home from here.”
Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland tweeted that the government was sending its Disaster Assessment Team to the region.
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