Tropical Storm Manuel - Thousands of tourists airlifted out of Acapulco

BBC News Latin America

Mexico storms: Tourists airlifted from flooded Acapulco

The BBC's Will Grant says there are fears for people trapped in remote areas

More than 2,000 tourists have been airlifted by the army from the Mexican resort of Acapulco following deadly floods caused by Tropical Storm Manuel.

But many more tourists and local residents remain stranded in the city and along the west coast after landslides blocked main roads.
Manuel was almost immediately followed by Hurricane Ingrid, causing widespread devastation in the east of the country.
At least 57 people are now known to have died in flooding and landslides.
It was the first time since 1958 that two powerful storms hit Mexico within 24 hours.
'No hope'In Acapulco, the army - helped by local airlines - is continuing to fly stranded tourists, Mexicans and foreigners, to the capital Mexico City.
Passengers are being taken directly from shelters to the runway because the main airport terminal remains closed.
"I see everybody helping," said Canadian tourist Michael Paliti, adding that he was "trying to get home as best as possible".
More than 2,000 tourists have already been evacuated, but another 40,000 are believed to have been marooned in Acapulco.

Tourists walk along the tarmac at the airport in Acapulco before boarding their flight to Mexico City

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Thousands of exhausted tourists were airlifted out of the Mexico’s western resort of Acapulco on Tuesday after Tropical Storm Manuel battered the city, causing floods and landslides.

By Josh Vardey (video)
News Wires (text)

Thousands of exhausted, hungry and increasingly despondent tourists lined up late into the night on a muddy road outside a military base for a chance to get home on one of two precious air bridges out of this famed beach resort isolated by landslides set off by Tropical Storm Manuel.
With the twin roads to Mexico City closed down, at least 40,000 tourists saw a long holiday beach weekend degenerate into a desperate struggle to get weeping children, elderly parents and even a few damp, bedraggled dogs back home.
Two of Mexico’s largest airlines were running about two flights an hour from Acapulco’s still-flooded international airport Tuesday, with priority for those with tickets, the elderly and families with young children.
Everyone else who couldn’t wait for the government’s promise to reopen the roads within two days flocked to Air Base 7 about 20 minutes north of Acapulco, where a military air bridge made up of barely more than a dozen aircraft ferried tourists to Mexico City. The normally quiet beach-front installation was transformed into a scene from a conflict zone.
Families in shorts and sandals waited for as long as eight hours outside the gates of the base, held at bay by rifle-toting soldiers until they were allowed to drag suitcases, pet carriers and red-eyed children across the tarmac, where they jostled furiously for a chance at one of the 150 seats on the next departing Air Force Boeing 727.
Military officials said only two of the passenger planes were in service, although a few hundred people got seats on one of the five helicopters or seven cargo planes also pressed into air bridge duty.
Many told of horror stories of spending the weekend trapped by torrential rains inside their hotels, emerging to discover there was no way back home.


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