Guyanese family airlifted from Venezuela floods
A GUYANESE family trapped in the devastating floods that have swept the northern coastal section of Venezuela is among the thousands airlifted from the death zone, Guyana's Ambassador in Caracas, Mr Bayney Karran said yesterday. In a telephone interview from the embassy, he told the Chronicle the "overwhelming majority" of Guyanese living in Venezuela were in the east of the country which is unaffected by the disaster. The death toll from the horrific tragedy continued to rise yesterday (see story on page nine) but Karran said there have been no reports of fatalities or injuries among Guyanese residents. He said the section of Caracas where the embassy is located was also not affected and Guyanese employees and their families were safe. But Guyanese families in the Catia La Mar area on the coastline opposite Caracas were flooded out, he reported. A Guyanese mechanic, known so far only as `Sonny', his wife and children, ploughed about three miles through mud and debris and made it to the main international Simon Bolivar Airport in Maiquetia, Karran said. From there, they were airlifted to an air base at La Carlota in Caracas and are staying in Petare with relatives, the ambassador told the Chronicle. The Guyanese community in Caracas is not large, he explained, and about 30 households live in Petare which is on a hillside in central Caracas and out of the devastated region. The Guyanese Embassy and the Guyanese community in Caracas are co-ordinating some relief for those Guyanese affected, Karran said. He reported that in Catia La Mar where at least six Guyanese families lived, the house of one family was swept away by flood waters and three other homes were flooded out. This area is one of those hardest hit by the mudslides and flooding, Karran said. The family whose home was lost is being given temporary shelter by other Guyanese in the area, he said. Up to yesterday there had been no news about a Guyanese man who lived in the Galipan hamlet in the mountain range north of Caracas but his name was not among the dead or missing listed on a special website authorities have set up, Karran said. "So we assume that he has found refuge in a centre in the mountains", he said. Karran said the airport near Catia La Mar is closed because about 80 per cent of the workers at the airport are dead, missing or homeless. In addition, when the floods struck, people streamed to the airport for shelter and others on flights and waiting for flights are stranded there. The road connecting Caracas to the airport is also washed away in parts and sections are covered by mudslides and debris, he said.
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