{"id":255622,"date":"2025-10-28T06:14:58","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T10:14:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=255622"},"modified":"2025-10-28T06:14:59","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T10:14:59","slug":"government-on-standby-to-evacuate-antigua-and-barbuda-students-from-jamaica","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/government-on-standby-to-evacuate-antigua-and-barbuda-students-from-jamaica\/","title":{"rendered":"Government on Standby to Evacuate Antigua and Barbuda Students from Jamaica"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Antigua and Barbuda government is finalizing plans to evacuate students studying in Jamaica as Hurricane Melissa bears down on the island with winds of up to 175 mph and gusts reaching 241 mph.<\/p>

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Director of Communications in the Office of the Prime Minister, Maurice Merchant, said students housed at the Pegasus Hotel in Kingston will remain there until further notice. The number of students has now risen to 53.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Merchant, who manages the Prime Minister\u2019s Scholarship Programme, spent Monday coordinating with students and urging them to take every precaution as the storm approached.<\/p>

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Prime Minister Gaston Browne ordered the relocation of students to the hotel last weekend for their safety, initially for a short stay, but worsening conditions delayed their return.<\/p>

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As of Monday night, Hurricane Melissa \u2014 described by forecasters as a \u201csuper storm\u201d stronger than 1988\u2019s Hurricane Gilbert \u2014 was about 150 miles south of Jamaica. Browne called on Antiguans and Barbudans to pray for Jamaica and said his government stands ready to provide assistance after the storm passes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Antigua and Barbuda government is finalizing plans to evacuate students studying in Jamaica as Hurricane Melissa bears down on the island with winds of up to 175 mph and gusts reaching 241 mph. Director of Communications in the Office of the Prime Minister, Maurice Merchant, said students housed at the Pegasus Hotel in Kingston […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":255431,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-255622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nGovernment on Standby to Evacuate Antigua and Barbuda Students from Jamaica - Antigua News Room<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/government-on-standby-to-evacuate-antigua-and-barbuda-students-from-jamaica\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Government on Standby to Evacuate Antigua and Barbuda Students from Jamaica\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Antigua and Barbuda government is finalizing plans to evacuate students studying in Jamaica as Hurricane Melissa bears down on the island with winds of up to 175 mph and gusts reaching 241 mph. 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