"Melanie Watters, 54, and her friend Janine Reid, 55, both from London, were being driven through the mountains from Kandy in central Sri Lanka on Thursday when the road in front of them was swamped, sending a bus nearby over a cliff-edge. The women's own car was stuck in a ditch and at risk of being washed away, said Watters' daughter, Katie Beeching, but the friends and their driver had to stay in the vehicle overnight in worsening conditions."
"The two women had since found cover at a tea plantation, Beeching said, but she added that they were running out of food, water and fuel, with the roads in and out of the Pussellawa area remaining impassable. Despite repeated frantic calls to the Foreign Office, Beeching, who is nine months pregnant, said she had been told that the UK government had no plan to facilitate an evacuation of the women, who were on a two-week holiday when the cyclone hit."
"Beeching said she had called the Foreign Office and told them: This is your job.' She said the response was: It isn't our responsibility. She added: There are literally two British nationals on their own, no food, water, fuel, no way in or out. This is getting worse. The weather's going to change again in a couple of days. You know, there has to be a plan I said: This could be lives lost if you don't take some sort of action, genuinely.' But they just said: No, there's no plan.'"
Two British women traveling in central Sri Lanka became stranded after a road was swamped and a nearby bus fell over a cliff. Their car was stuck in a ditch and at risk of being washed away, forcing them to shelter overnight and later take cover at a tea plantation. The women are running low on food, water and fuel while roads in and out of Pussellawa remain impassable. Repeated calls to the UK Foreign Office reportedly elicited no evacuation plan. Officials reported the Cyclone Ditwah death toll had reached 465, and India evacuated over 330 nationals by helicopter.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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