Three foreigners among Mexico hurricane dead

By: AFP
Published: 07:18 AM, 31 Oct, 2023
Three foreigners among Mexico hurricane dead
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Three foreigners from the United States, Britain and Canada were among at least 45 people killed when Hurricane Otis lashed Mexico's beach resort of Acapulco last week, authorities said Monday.

The foreigners were residents of the port city, Evelyn Salgado, governor of the southern state of Guerrero, told reporters.

The overall toll given by Salgado was slightly lower than the 48 deaths reported by the government on Sunday.

She said that 47 people were still missing.

According to Mexico's foreign ministry, 263 foreigners were in Acapulco when Otis slammed into the coast early Wednesday as a scale-topping Category 5 hurricane.

They included 34 people from the United States, 18 from France and 17 from Cuba, it said.

Frustrated survivors, who for days were unable to communicate with relatives to let them know they were safe, have accused authorities of an inadequate response.

The government said that thousands of liters of water and food supplies have been distributed in the resort city, home to 780,000 people.

"We're going to put Acapulco back on its feet," President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said at his daily news conference.

The World Meteorological Organization has described the hurricane as "one of the most rapidly intensifying tropical cyclones on record," exceeded in modern times only by another Pacific hurricane, Patricia, in 2015.

Categories : Environment