As looters pillage shattered islands, mother relives moment child was torn from her arms

‘She said the wind just pulled the child out of her hand. Then they found the child dead the next morning’

‘There’s no way to contact them. If someone was injured there would be no way of knowing’

Looting broke out yesterday after Hurricane Irma surged through the Caribbean’s islands like a chainsaw, cutting through anything that stood in its way. In Barbuda, a woman told how a two-year-old child died after being ripped from her arms by the storm’s 185mph winds.

Eli Fuller, an Antigua-based volunteer who reached Barbuda, broke down in tears describing his encounter with the woman.

Mr Fuller said: “She came down to the dock and she had bandages all over her face, which was busted in. And she says ‘I was the lady who lost the child’.

“She had her arm around a post after the roof blew off and walls caving in, and she had her other arm around the child. She said the wind just pulled the child out of her hand. And that was the last time she saw the child. Then they found the child dead the next morning.”

Two British sisters who had been missing on Barbuda after the tiny island’s communications systems were destroyed, along with most of its homes and the airport, were located yesterday.

Seven months pregnant Afiya Frank, 27, and her sister Asha Frank, 29, an ecologist and former beauty queen, were reported missing by their aunt Ruth Bolton, from Bury St Edmunds.

She said: “It has been frustrating waiting for news and the lack of information unbearable.

“Asha and Afiya Frank have been seen helping with the voluntary evacuation. Lots of families are still trying to trace their loved ones.”

In the badly damaged island of St Martin, which has French and Dutch sections, both nations’ governments said looting had broken out. Annick Girardin, France’s minister for overseas territories, described “scenes of pillaging” as desperate islanders resorted to stealing food, water, televisions and other goods.

She said: “There is a strange mood at the moment in St Martin. How can people take advantage of the distress of others? We need to restore public order to St Martin.”

“The situation is serious,” said Mark Rutte, Dutch prime minister, referring to the looting. Extra troops and police were arriving on the island.

A state of emergency was declared in the British Virgin Islands where houses were reduced to their foundations and many roads left impassable. The UK deployed troops to Anguilla and a Ministry of Defence spokesman said that aircraft carrying 230 engineers, marines and medical specialists would bring rations.

Virginia Clerveaux, the British overseas territories disaster director, said: “We are expecting inundation from both rainfall as well as storm surge. And we may not be able to come to the rescue of residents in a timely manner.”

The Turks and Caicos Islands suffered a major hit, and on Grand Turk roofs were torn off buildings, roads were flooded and there was no access to electricity.

The US military was last night mobilising thousands of troops and deploying several large ships to aid with evacuations and humanitarian relief. The governors of Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and Florida have activated nearly 14,000 National Guard personnel to support search and rescue missions and evacuations, a Pentagon statement said. The USS Kearsarge and the USS Oak Hill – an amphibious assault ship and a dock landing ship – are being sent to aid relief efforts.

The death toll, which is now put at 20, included nine people in St Martin and St Barts, and four in the US Virgin islands. In Puerto Rico, three people were confirmed killed and two thirds of the three million population were left without power. Elizabeth Doody Johnson, a resident in St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands, said: “Wires are down everywhere, trees blocking roads, the island is destroyed.”

In the British Virgin Islands, large yachts were left piled on top of each other, blown on to rocks, or overturned on top of wooden cabins.

Relations of Britons living in the Caribbean were desperately trying to make contact with them.

Jackie Cameron, 58, and her husband David, 60, had told relatives they would barricade themselves in their home on Tortola, and had stocked up on food. Mr Cameron’s sister Jill Chennell said: “They’ve lived in Tortola for 30 years and they’ve been through many hurricanes, but when we last spoke to Jackie she said she was most worried about this one.”

Briton Rob Wooldridge had not heard from his brother, Richard, 54, a yacht manager in Tortola, and his family. Mr Wooldridge said: “There’s no way of communicating with them. If someone was injured there would be no way of knowing.”