Leinster House, Irish Dept. of Foreign Affairs.
Concern for Irish Caught in Hurricane Disaster Zone.
There are worries over the location of some Irish citizens caught up in the disaster stricken US city New Orleans, a Government minister said today.
Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern admitted there was concern over the locations of some Irish people.
The Foreign Affairs Department has been contacted by around 40 families seeking information about relatives travelling in the area and officials are still working to establish the locations of around 10 Irish citizens.There have been reports of rapes, beatings and car-jackings. Evacuation attempts were disrupted by gunfire and armed looters are loose on the streets.
Jim Lally, whose son Conor was caught up in the chaotic attempts to evacuate New Orleans, said he had been holed up with thousands of others in horrendous conditions in the city’s Superdome theatre.
“There have seen sights which were indescribable to be honest,” Mr Lally said.
He added: “There have been rapes, there has been gang warfare in the Superdome because they have all the different street gangs in there.
“It is full of people off the street, people of the night, homeless people and alcoholics so on like that, drug addicts who are not getting their drugs and they are not getting their alcohol. You can only just think of what they could be getting up to you know.”Mr Lally said his son and friends were evacuated to a hotel from the Superdome by the army last night along with other international people.
The concerned father said: “There was about 50 to 60 people taken to this hotel. Not the sort of hotel that you and I would probably want to book in to but never-the-less better than the Superdome.”
Desperate Search for Foreign Tourists Continues.
At the Astrodome shelter in Houston, representatives from 15 countries placed flags on processing tables to direct foreign nationals to help as they arrived on buses, said Mitch Jeffery, vice-consul at the British Consulate in Houston.
The US State Department on Friday said it had no figures on the number of foreigners reported missing.
Interpol said it had offered support to US and other authorities in trying to track down any missing foreigners. The international police agency proposed co-ordinating international police messages.
Two Brazilian women – Monica Vassao, 25, and Leticia Campos, 19 – called their families on mobile phones from the Superdome in New Orleans immediately after the hurricane Monday, but have not been heard from since, according to the Brazilian Consulate in Houston.
“They said it was a very bad situation, people were dying and committing suicide,” said Flavia Passos, Brazil’s vice-consul in Houston. “We have been trying to contact them since then. We are really worried about them.”[Source: Ireland OnLine]
Comments