GHOST TOWN
Ben Fogle ventures to Montserrat to explore spookily abandoned volcano exclusion zone
AFTER a volcano violently erupted in 1995, a tiny island in the Caribbean was devastated with its inhabitants forced to flee. Now Montserrat is a strange, eerie place frozen in time.
Bottles are still lined up on the bar at a local club, shopping trolleys are covered in dust in the wreckage of a supermarket, clothes still hang in wardrobes, toys are left out for play and tables are still set for dinner.
“I’ve almost thought I’ve seen people wandering around, but I haven’t because this is an area that no longer sustains people,” says Ben Fogle. “It’s a lost world.”
Ben has been given access to the exclusion zone of the natural disaster, which saw thousands become refugees in their own country, now known as the Caribbean Pompeii.
He investigates what it was like living in the shadow of a violently explosive volcano as he uncovers stories of great
Bottles are still lined up on the bar at a local club...clothes still hang in wardrobes, toys are left out for play and tables are still set for dinner heroism and loss. With his local guide Scriber, Ben explores the abandoned capital of Plymouth, now an ash-covered ghost town.
He meets the people who remained and refused to be driven from their beloved island, rebuilding and creating new lives, as well as one man who has returned to live in the shadow of the volcano.
Rose Willock, who was and remains the Montserrat Radio DJ, recalls: “There were people who were scared out of their wits. Some people were just running and screaming and I said ‘Yes, this is scary and if you have to cry, cry. If you have to scream, scream… but please do not go outside.’”