Mexico Storms: Tourists Evacuate Acapulco

Emergency flights are starting to evacuate some of the 40,000 tourists who have been left stranded at a Mexican holiday resort cut off by floods.

Landslides, rockslides, floodwaters and collapsed bridges severed links to Acapulco after Tropical Storm Manuel hit the coast on Sunday.

Thousands of stranded tourists lined up outside an air force base north of the city to try to get a seat on one of a handful of planes flying to Mexico City.

Families dressed in shorts and sandals stood for up to eight hours outside the base as they waited for a flight.

As well as two passengers planes being used in the evacuation operation, the army has pressed five helicopters and seven cargo aircraft into service.

Acapulco's international airport is swamped by floodwaters

Some flights were also being operated out of the swamped international airport by two of Mexico's largest airlines, Aeromexico and Interjet.

Priority was being given to those with tickets, the elderly and families with young children.

Passengers were being taken directly to the runway from a concert hall which is being used as a shelter and operations centre for the airport.

"We're deciding whether we return by plane or wait for the road to open, but the problem is food," Andres Guerra Gutierrez, a Mexico City resident with 14 family members, said as he waited in line.

Guerrero state's government said 40,000 tourists were stuck in the city, but the head of the local chamber of business owners said reports from hotels indicated the number could be as high as 60,000.

The military is helping with the relief effort

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said it was aware of the problems being caused to British tourists by the storms.

A statement said: "We are in close contact with local authorities and are providing consular assistance to British nationals in the affected area.

"British people who require assistance should contact the British embassy in Mexico City."

David Jefferson Gled, a 28-year-old from Bristol, who teaches English at a private school in Mexico City, said: "It's probably one of the worst holidays I've ever been on.

"It wasn't really a holiday, more of an incarceration."

Interior Secretary Miguel Angel Osorio Chong told Radio Formula that 27 people had been killed in the Pacific coast state of Guerrero, where Acapulco is located.

Up to 60,000 tourists are believed to be in Acapulco

Another 20 people have died across the country, many as a result of former hurricane Ingrid, which struck the Gulf coast on Monday.

It is the first time since 1958 that two storms have hit both the country's coasts within 24 hours, according to meteorologists.

Many parts of Acapulco are without water or electricity, with knee-deep floodwaters inside the city's airports.

Federal officials said it could take two more days to open the main road to the city, which was hit by more than 13 landslides during heavy rain, and to bring supplies to the more than 800,000 people in Acapulco.

The US National Hurricane Centre said Manuel was expected to strengthen near resorts at the tip of the Baja California Peninsula.

More than 23,000 people have fled their homes in the state and at least 20 highways and 12 bridges have been damaged.

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