Photo by Martin Bureau/AFP/Getty Images
A Mountain Home couple, Dr. Ben Petkovich and his fiance Cindi Floyd, is reportedly safe and beginning their journey home after their vacation in the Caribbean turned horrifying after they had to be rescued from the island of Saint Martin in the wake of devastation there caused by Hurricane Irma. The two were able to manage to get on board a Royal Caribbean ship Sunday amid flight cancellations and an estimated number of 1,000 individuals trying to get flights off the island.
According to ABC news, some 1,200 American citizens had to be evacuated by U.S. military, C-130 aircraft, beginning Friday, prioritizing those needing urgent medical care. An estimated 5,000 American citizens were believed to be stranded on the island at that time.
According to Petkovich’s daughter, Kim, who resides in Los Angeles, she and the Floyd family have been in contact with her dad and Cindi initially through a working cellphone Cindi was able to borrow. They have continued keeping in touch beginning Sunday with WhatsApp, a free messaging app for iPhone and other smartphones.
Kim wanted to make it clear she was given permission Monday to relay her fathers’ status by Dr. Petkovich to KTLO, Classic Hits and The Boot News and the family is grateful for the outpouring of support and concern coming from the Twin Lakes Area. Although they went through what was described as a terrifying ordeal they are now on a ship to Curacao, Venezuela, then on to Puerto Rico where they will book a flight back to the mainland.
Kim says Dr. Petkovich and Floyd were vacationing in Saint Martin when they learned of Hurricane Irma’s approach. They tried to get a flight out of St. Martin Tuesday and Wednesday, however due to the amount of cancellations to the area they were stranded.
They wound up having to take shelter in a concrete enforced local motel, hunkering down in a bathroom as Irma passed, an experience Kim relays was extremely emotional for the couple.
Perhaps the scariest part of the ordeal for the pair, according to Kim, was transitioning by bus from their hotel to a Dutch military shelter where they had to sleep on the ground. Groups of looters were amidst the chaos. The ABC News report says a group of men armed with, what a witness describes as, long swords stormed a hotel and had beaten up a tourist.
Other witnesses described looters stealing purses from hotel guests and Dutch authorities were in search of men who had just robbed a bank.
Some 20 Americans banded together in Petkovich’s group and arrived at the nearest airport hoping to get a flight out, only to find nearly 1,000 people in the same predicament.
A member of the party heard about a Royal Caribbean ship coming to rescue those in need. Petkovich and Floyd were able to make it to that ship and were among the first groups of people allowed on board.
Royal Caribbean’s website posted Monday, in coordination with the United States and local governments, ships had been dispatched to the area and the Adventure of the Seas ship made a humanitarian stop in Saint Martin Sunday. Majesty of the Seas will make humanitarian calls in Saint Thomas and Saint Martin as well as provide supplies and continue to transport evacuees to safety.
Kim, along with Petkovitch, Floyd and the entire family say they are lucky and glad to be alive.
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