Family survived in only room left

A woman has told how her cousin and family are “lucky to be alive” after they survived being in the eye wall of Hurricane Irma.

Sasha Joyce and her father, her husband Brendan, who is from Glasgow, and their children sheltered in her father’s house as the storm tore across the island of Tortola in the British Virgin Islands.

The adults lay on top of the children, aged two and four, to protect them as the winds battered the house.

When they emerged, the other rooms had been swept away, with only the room they had sheltered in surviving.

Sasha’s cousin Clare Parker, who lives in London, said: “They walked out of there alive, which is miraculous and we are so grateful for. They are feeling lucky to be alive.”

Mr Joyce, 44, from Glasgow, has lived on the island for more than 10 years and works as a marina manager at Nanny Cay.

His wife Sasha, 34, is from the island and his children Keiran, four, and Aiden, two, were born there.