Prime Minister Gaston Browne has concluded arrangements with the C.E.O. of LIAT Air to evacuate the Antigua and Barbuda students from Jamaica, should the need arise, following passage of Hurricane Melissa.
The Prime Minister met with Mrs. Hafsa Abdulsalam, the Chief Executive Officer, on Tuesday morning, 28th October 2025, who gave the Prime Minister the assurance that a LIAT aircraft will be made available as soon as the conditions allow, should evacuation be necessary.
The Prime Minister reported to the CEO that all 53 students are secure and safely housed at the Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston since Friday past, and that they have all the creature comforts to enable them to study while they await the worst of the hurricane.
The storm will reportedly make landfall today, Tuesday, traveling at an exceedingly slow rate, with winds that make it a Category 5 hurricane. It is large and ferocious and poses grave danger to life and property.
The Prime Minister continues to encourage all congregations to pray for Jamaica and all who reside there, seeking God’s intervention to lessen the harm that will likely result. Nearly everyone in Antigua and Barbuda knows what harm hurricanes inflict, and the cost of recovery from their devastating winds and water.
The Prime Minister assures the nation that Antigua and Barbuda will provide some assistance to Jamaica in the post-hurricane recovery period.
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Putting the cart before the horse.
How would you feel if one student was to get injured during the passage of the hurricane?
St Kitts leaders showed real and true leadership and maturity.
WhWhile u were in Dominica braffing at tax payers expense and without a care for your students in Jamaica, St Kitts prime minister was making sure that his subjects were secure at home.
I call that true leadership.
That is a quality that you do not possess.
Then to appear to be doing something you are making liat ready to evacuate students after the storm.
It may be too lay for some.
For once you should think of others before your selfish gains.
Had Hon. Kelvin Shuggy Somon gone to Dominica you cultists would have sleepless nights.
However you can sell Antigua and run and they are blind.
This proactive Prime Minister could have easily made the arrangements for our students to be evacuated 4-5 days earlier instead of galavanting to Dominica. 🇩🇲
Where does this man’s priorities lie?
I bet he was cajoled and persuaded by the family and relatives of the students.
Weather reports about hurricane Melissa going towards Jamaica 🇯🇲 was well known long before, not only from the meteorologists, but also by those who were rightly concerned about friends and relatives.
Praying that all of the students return to these shores safe and sound 🙏🏾
Even from their secure location at the Pegasus Hotel, the experience of having to live though this harrowing event will be traumatic, scary and tortuous for all the students. Though Kingston where they are located would escape the brunt of the damage from this monster storm, even at this stage I support the removal of the students as soon as is possible, allowing them some time in Antigua to recover, breathe and catch themselves from what is obviously a very frightening and scary event. Some students might need the help of a therapist as the memory of this would linger in their minds for sometime to come. It is no secret that I had suggested the removal of the students before the hurricane instead of just putting them in the hotel. Even at this stage, I support their removal albeit temporary once the airports are open for business again.
Wait….not that this isn’t a good thing, BUT…….If my child was in the path of a major hurricane, you best believe that I was a parent would be making arrangements to get my child to safety. I won’t be waiting on no government to evacuate my child either before or after a hurricane passes.
Prevention is better than cure, I wish we had a better leader …..
@Brix.
I was screaming on here since last week to get the student’s out..a few of the foolish followers of GB didn’t like it, but I was screaming at the top of my lungs since Thursday/Friday. Today is Tuesday, four days later, and it’s now this man talking about “flights”.
But we all know his ego is bigger than other parts of his body, so if he doesn’t even listen to his cabinet members or the opposition, why would he drop his ego for a second and listen to dummies like us?.
What a joker..I guess posing with criminals like Vybes Cartel is more important.
@ Islanman26,
Has Gaston Browne been known as a man who makes decisions that benefits his own interests and agenda; even when lives are at stake.
The man knows no shame. The tax payers of Antigua and Barbuda will have to cover the cost of putting up these UWI students in a hotel owning to his poor decision making skills and his penchant for partying even during a crisis.
Jamaica will be in a catastrophic state for some time.
What was necessary was to immediately evacuate and have these student temporarily attending UWI Five Islands.
How quick was he to haul all the people off of Barbuda during IRMA, declaring the island inhabitable; so that PLH can move in at Dulcina and Coco Point.
Even today some Barbudans are still living with temporary electricity, 7 years later as he Bloviator about high end tourism in Barbuda.
@country man. I know bro..this is just elementary to just make the right human decisions,and the man just can’t get it right.
It’s just baffling sometimes. None of us get it right all the time, but to get it this wrong on so many occasions is very worrying.
God help Antigua for real. I was looking at some videos out of Jamaica, and some of the sites, with that amount of rain, was frightening.
But people like us ( experienced) knew this would have been the case, how come this ” so-called greatest leader in Antigua’s history” couldn’t see this coming? BAFFLING!!!
@ Where the parents
Antiguans never fail to surprise me, having allowed ourselves to become a nation of dumbed-down sissies whose first line of attack is ALWAYS “You OWE it to me to look after me! Gimme, gimme, gimme….. And our senseless, idle, couch potatoes – cell phones in hand – could find nothing better to do than demand that this or that be done, by others for them. How many parents of these scholarship recipients in Jamaica collectively raised their concerns for their “bound-to-be-traumatized” children during and after the passage of Melissa? Did any of our couch critics demonstrate even an inkling of genuine interest and leadership by proactively trying to HELP THEMSELVES, to seek viable alternative arrangements for our babies to be rescued. The answer, of course, is “NO!” Rather we run with the carnivores barking the same refrain. Unable to come up with original, creative, effective ways to be of service to these students we just glance over our shoulders and copy what someone else is doing. So St. Kitts is doing it so that must be THE solution to the problem. Being a mere copy cat must have helped many of these couch-critters get a high school diploma. We pretend to be a “Christian” community yet choose, in the first instance, to throw the PM under the bus strictly and solely for political reasons. But God is a powerful God and He will do what is best for students. Maybe our students might well be in a position to assist their adoptive brothers and sisters in the aftermath of this horrendous act of nature! The entire experience might well go a long way in rebuilding character, traditional values, backbone and sound leadership. Instead of this political campaign, prayer, encouragement and upliftment for ALL residents and visitors in Jamaica should be our reaction. God is good ALL the time
Excellent collaboration between government and airline safety and compassion in action.
That’s what Caribbean unity looks like. One people, one region — we stand with Jamaica in this difficult time.
Didn’t some countries have removed their children out before the hurricane hit since last week? So why didn’t Antigua government did the same? I know of some parents here who already got their children out before the hurricane arrived.
Thanks for making this happen. At least our shares in the airplane is not going to waste