AMSTERDAM--A Boeing 747 of the Royal Dutch Airlines KLM left for St. Maarten on Thursday where it will arrive this weekend to evacuate passengers.
The aircraft first flew to Curaçao to get relief goods and personnel of aid organisations, and would continue its journey to St. Maarten over the weekend with a capacity of 268 persons.
In St. Maarten the aircraft will pick up persons in need of assistance, stranded tourists of all nationalities and other persons who don’t live on the island and want to leave. The evacuees will be flown to Aruba.
The additional evacuation capacity is organised by the Dutch Government, in cooperation with the KLM. Personnel of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be on the flight to assist the evacuees.
So far, a total of 3,800 persons were evacuated from the hurricane devastated island, of which a total of 1,400 were flown out by Dutch military aircraft. It is unknown at this stage when commercial flights, including those of KLM, will resume.
