image source, Getty
Odile wreaking havoc on land and sea.
Mexican authorities confirmed to BBC Mundo that a British couple has been missing since Sunday night after Hurricane Odile surprised them when they met on their sailboat in Baja California Sur, in Mexico.
The ministerial police, attached to the State Attorney’s Office, indicated that Paul Whitehouse and Simone Wood were captured.
So far, the deaths of three foreigners have been confirmed, two Koreans who worked with a mining company and a German, as well as several, including the British couple.
Apparently the couple was inside their boat, anchored at the La Paz pier, when the hurricane hit the place and sank several sailboats.
BBC Mundo was able to talk with Javier Piñuela, a friend of the disappeared couple, who said that they had been living in La Paz, the capital of Baja California, for about a year, where they arrived on a sailboat they owned.
Piñuela added that Paul Whitehouse worked as a diving instructor. He described them as jovial, friendly, in their 50s and originally from London, England. He added that they lived on his sailboat, called «Tabasco.»
From hurricane to storm
image source, fake images
A good part of the stranded tourists have already been evacuated. Photography Getty Images.
Juan Carlos Pérez Salazar, BBC Mundo correspondent in Mexico, recorded that Odile made landfall on Sunday night as a category 3 hurricane on the rise of Saffir Simpson.
In 24 hours it was losing power, it became a tropical storm on Monday night. However, that period was enough to leave the vast majority of the population of that state without electricity and some 30,000 tourists stranded by the closure of the two airports in the area.
In addition, floods, road closures and damage to buildings appeared. Five municipalities were declared as disaster areas.
On Tuesday morning, the authorities had an airlift, with ships from the Armed Forces and commercial, to evacuate tourists.
The insurers indicated that the total cost of the damage could reach 12 billion pesos (US$908 million).
