British triplets saved as home is flattened
BRITISH triplets are among the youngest survivors of the hurricane, it emerged last night.
Six-month-old Beatrice, Charlotte and Isabella were staying on Tortola in the British Virgin Islands when their home was hit by 185mph winds. Though the house was mostly turned to rubble, the triplets managed to escape harm as they were sheltered in the most secure part of the house with their mother Kate Jackson, 33, and her fiance Alex Ashman, 31.
Miss Jackson’s sister Christine, 31, was also with the family when Hurricane Irma hit.
Back in the family’s home city of Manchester, their other sister Claire, 29, learnt her tiny nieces were safe in a patchy phone call lasting just seconds.
She said Mr Ashman had briefly managed to get through to tell them the party was safe – but that the family home was ‘destroyed’.
Describing the wait to find out if the triplets were safe, Miss Jackson said: ‘I haven’t slept. These girls are so young. It’s probably the two worst days of my life. It’s a huge relief to know they’re okay but there’s another storm coming.’
Meanwhile, the family of a pregnant British woman and her sister missing in Barbuda last night said that ‘the silence is unbearable’.
Seven-months pregnant Afiya Frank, 27, and sister Asha, 29, were both on the tiny island when it was battered by Irma on Wednesday.
The family last heard from the pair at 10.30pm on Wednesday. They have since mounted a frantic campaign to try to find them. Last night the women’s aunt Ruth Bolton, 48, said: ‘The silence is unbearable ... not knowing if they are ok.’
Elsewhere on Virgin Gorda island, hotel manager Caroline WhitlockHenry, 50, from London, and her husband Marcus Henry, 40, have also been missing since Wednesday.