Squash team stuck in Trinidad because of hurricane

FRIDAY, AUGUST 31: Bermuda’s national squash team has been stranded in Trinidad in the wake of Hurricane Isaac, the Bermuda Sun can reveal. And the six man squad are unlikely to be able to leave the Caribbean nation until tomorrow at the earliest – almost a week after their scheduled departure date.

Team member Micah Franklin said: “Right now, we’re all just trying to get out on Saturday – for sure, I’m going out on Saturday and the rest of the team are hoping to get on the same flight as well.

“We’re just hoping for the best.” The team travelled to Port of Spain for the Senior Caribbean tournament, arriving on Friday, August 17 and were due to leave last Sunday.

But Isaac – which was heading for the Gulf of Mexico, caused travel chaos and flights in and out of Miami airport were severely disrupted.

Franklin, one of the island’s top squash players, was joined by team-mates Anthony Fellowes, Stephen Smith and Christopher and Andrew Stout, as well as Ontario-based coach Andrew Mount for the seven country event.

Franklin said: “The weather in Trinidad has been fine — there’s been a shower or two, that’s all, so we have been lucky in that respect.

“The weather in Miami was the real reason we couldn’t leave.”

Franklin added that scenes at the Port of Spain airport were “chaotic” as a backlog of travellers built up.

Fellowes managed to get on an earlier flight to Miami, which is still experiencing some disruption as Isaac, now downgraded to a tropical storm, moves inland after hitting land in Louisiana on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning.

Franklin said: “The rest of us all tried to get on a flight on Wednesday, but it was massively over-booked. There are a lot of people at the airport trying to leave just like us.”

He added: “We’re trying to just stay as busy as we can, going to see the island and playing a lot of cards, but we just want to get home.

“All the other guys have to get back to work, although I’m just going back to train.”