NICARAGUA: Rescue operations begun along Nicaragua's coastline after devastating Category 5 hurricane swept across region

Rescue operations began in remote communities close to Puerto Cabezas on Wednesday (September 5), which are only accessible by river. Authorities had feared for these communities, which are detached from main towns. Rescue operations are being conducted by helicopter. Felix killed at least nine people on Tuesday (September 4) around the Nicaraguan Caribbean coastal town of Puerto Cabezas, where it damaged over 5,000 houses and uprooted trees. At least 11 people were missing. Four of the dead drowned, and another was a woman who was crushed when a tree fell on her house. Felix weakened to a tropical depression and headed southwest toward the border with El Salvador, but Honduran emergency services warned the worst might not be over. The injured are now being transported to the main hospital located in Puerto Cabezas. A number of fishermen were rescued, who had suffered several injuries after enduring the storm. One seriously scraped his stomach when he was dragged by the storm and Carlos Salgado, from the community of Los Cayos Miskito, lost four of his colleagues. They were fishing on a boat when the hurricane hit. They lost control of the sails and their boat was upturned by the powerful waves. "We were on a boat. We had tied the sails and when the hurricane hit us, the sails snapped and twisted around in the storm. Our boat turned over. We awoke turned over. That's what happened. We were dragged by the sea. There were five more on my boat. The other four died and I was the only survivor," Salgado said. The Miskitos, who traditionally fish for turtles, formed a British protectorate until the 19th century. More than 35,000 of them live in Honduras, and over 100,000 in Nicaragua. The hurricane came on the heels of another Category 5 storm, the most powerful type. Last month, Hurricane Dean killed 27 people in the Caribbean and Mexico. It was the first time on record that two Atlantic hurricanes made landfall as Category 5 storms in the same season.

ITN Source | September 6, 2007

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