San Juan: The death toll in the Bahamas from hurricane Dorian has increased to 30, according to the Prime Minister of the archipelago in the Atlantic.
In an interview with US media on Thursday, Hubert Minnis confirmed the toll and reiterated that it was likely to rise, Efe news reported.
Dorian it hit the Bahamas on September 1 with winds of up to 298km/h–equalling the highest-ever recorded at landfall. It battered the Abaco Islands and Grand Bahama, in the north of the archipelago, for two days.
Minnis said he did not know when evacuation flights would start for people who are not elderly or sick–the first to be rescued–but he hoped it would be in five days and they would be transferred free of cost to Nassau.
Earlier, Health Minister Duane Sands announced that 23 people had died because of Dorian, but had emphasized that the death toll would rise “much higher”.
He said only a few people were qualified to officially pronounce people dead, and until deaths were officially confirmed they cannot be added to the list of victims.
If the procedure for declaring a person dead was not scrupulously followed it could have legal and insurance consequences, he added. (IANS)
