Irma: British citizens stranded in Caribbean 'because French rescue planes refuse to take refugees from UK'

Dutch and French citizens have been evacuated from St Maarten – British, German and Italians are still waiting

There are reports of holidaymakers surviving on one protein bar per day (AFP/Getty)

British holidaymakers left stranded on a hurricane-hit Caribbean island have accused French and Dutch evacuation planes of refusing to let them board despite having empty seats.

After a category 5 hurricane ripped through the Caribbean, thousands of people were left with no power or phone reception and limited supplies of food and water.

The UK Government has also faced criticism for stalled evacuations after commercial airlines like Thomas Cook cancelled several flights back to the UK before Hurricane Irma hit.

The Telegraph reported that holidaymakers Ross and Lesley McEwan, who were staying in Sint Maarten, the Dutch side of Caribbean island Saint Martin, were forced to wait around 14 hours at the airport, only to be told that “nobody wants to take [them]”.

Ms McEwan sent a message to her daughter on Sunday claiming that a French plane flew back to Europe “three-quarters empty because they couldn’t get permission for ‘refugees’”.

In Saint Martin, Dutch, French, American and Canadian citizens have been evacuated, but remaining British citizens have reportedly been told that the UK Foreign Office has not made contact with anyone on the island or drawn up an evacuation plan.

Geoffrey Scott-Baker, the father of a stranded holidaymaker, told Radio 4’s Today programme that his daughter and others were “starving” on the island, eating one protein bar per day, sunburnt and lacking water, and are also at risk of being targeted by looters.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson told the programme that the criticisms were “completely unjustified”.

“In Saintt Martin, which is Dutch let’s not forget, we have been evacuating people according to their medical need and some British nationals actually have been evacuated. We are in constant contact with the Dutch or the French. We really don’t want more people going onto the island as it is a disaster zone so it is really up to them to get them off.

”We are doing everything we can to help British nationals but there are half a million of them affected.“

A Foreign Office spokesman told The Independent: “We have been in regular contact with the Dutch and the Americans since the onset of this crisis to co-ordinate our response and help for all those affected. We understand that evacuation is based on individual need, rather than nationality, with the most vulnerable prioritised. It is not due to the lack of an arrangement. Indeed a number of British citizens have been evacuated from the island by the US.

“We are in touch with British nationals on Saint Martin and have advised them to follow the local advice on the ground. While we are unable to get a consular team to Saint Maarten, we have deployed staff to Curacao to help British nationals evacuated there from Saint Maarten.”