Mother fears for family in ‘collapsed jungle’

A British DJ has said she fears her trapped family may run out of supplies as they await rescue following Hurricane Irma.

Laura Elliott said her fiance and two young children remain stuck at their home in Tortola in the British Virgin Islands, surrounded by a “collapsed jungle”.

The 38-year-old, who was working abroad when the storm hit, said the family had four or five days’ worth of food left.

She has lived on the island for two years with fiance Andrew Jowett, ten-month-old son Oscar, and 23-month-old daughter Isla.

Ms Elliott said: “I didn’t hear anything for three days after it hit and there were a lot of people out there that we hadn’t heard from, so we feared the worst.

“I’ve heard from them now and they do have food and water and supplies and they are OK for the minute. But where the house is, it’s just very difficult to get to them because they are kind of engulfed by a collapsed jungle.”

Members of the local community and colleagues of Mr Jowett, a British-canadian, have been working to free the family, who live in an isolated pocket of the island.