Team India’s return journey: Barbados PM expects airport to open within hours
Life-threatening winds and storms battered Barbados and nearby islands on Monday. The country, with a population of nearly three lakh, has been in lockdown since Sunday night | (Photo: PTI)
India’s T20 World Cup-winning cricket team could be able to fly home on Tuesday night after Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley said she expects the airport there to be operational again within the “next six to 12 hours”, ending a closure due to a Category 4 hurricane.
The team led by Rohit Sharma, the support staff, some BCCI officials and the families of the players were stranded here for the past two days due to Cyclone Beryl. The team won the title on Saturday after beating South Africa by seven runs in the final.
“We are hoping, and we are working towards getting there later today. I don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, but I have literally been in touch with the airport staff and they are doing their final checks now and we want to get back to normal as soon as possible,” Mottley, who is overseeing relief operations on the ground, told PTI.
“There are a number of people who were supposed to be leaving late last night or today or tomorrow morning. And we want to make sure that we can help those individuals, so I expect the airport to be open within the next six to 12 hours,” she said.
Life-threatening winds and storms battered Barbados and nearby islands on Monday, with the country, with a population of nearly three lakh, having been in lockdown since Sunday night.
“(We’ve) been working to make sure everyone is safe in Barbados, Barbadians and all the visitors, of course, who came for the Cricket World Cup. We were very blessed that the storm didn’t make landfall.
“The hurricane was 80 miles south of us, which limited damage on land. But as you can see, the coast, infrastructure and coastal assets were severely damaged,” Mottley said.
“It could have been a lot worse, but now is the time to repair the damage and clean up.”
Time to leave Bridgetown is limited as Mottley revealed that “there is another hurricane coming on Wednesday.”
She hoped the Indians, who have stayed in their hotel since winning the trophy, would be in high spirits despite the lockdown as an 11-year title drought comes to an end.
“I’m sure that despite the hurricane, they would have been in a very, very, very good mood and spirit and would have won in the same way that they won on Saturday. I think they’ll be in the air for a while,” she joked.
First print: 02 Jul 2024 | 08:12 IST