Michelle creeps north

Hurricane Michelle is tonight gaining strength in the Caribbean Sea as she creeps determinedly north. Hurricane Michelle was last centred two hundred and fifty-five miles south-southeast of Western Cuba moving at just three miles an hour. The storm is now up to eighty-five miles an hour, but with the pressure still falling, experts predict the hurricane will gain substantial strength overnight. But as Belize dodges the bullet, our Belizean brothers and sisters in Cuba are getting ready to batten the hatches. Besides a number of Belizean students studying on the island, a Belizean delegation of businessmen and women, who were attending a trade conference with their regional counterparts, are trapped there since all airports have been closed. This evening, News 5 spoke with press officer Patrick Jones who informs that the Belizean students are in shelters away from the coast and that the business contingent is at the President Hotel in Havana. If anyone wishes to get in contact with a family member in Cuba, you can do so by calling Belize’s Ambassador to Cuba, Amalia Mai at 00-537-806-272 or the first secretary Juan Rancharan at 00-537-803-712. Derek Nisbet can be reached at 00-537-854-883. The ambassador wishes to assure the public here that for now, all the Belizeans are safe.