Jet Skiers Rescue Over 100 People Trapped in the Bahamas After Hurricane Dorian

The Bahamas experienced one of its worst natural disasters in history over the weekend, as Hurricane Dorian hovered over the islands for an unusually long time, pounding the islands with intense winds and flooding. A handful of good Samaritans have stepped up where the government has fallen short and are braving the conditions to help residents who were trapped in the storm.

One such example is a jet ski rescue crew who managed to rescue 100 people from the hurricane.

Michael Pintard, the Minister of Agriculture and Marine Resources in the Bahamas, is one of the people rescued by the jet ski crew. Pintard told CNN that his entire family was rescued, although they had to take separate trips because only so many people can fit on a jet ski at one time. At first, they attempted to take the whole family at once but the watercraft flipped over.

“We thought it would pretty much be a routine ride out, but the waves were still pretty strong, and the wind was fairly high. We capsized, my wife and I, at least twice. My daughter capsized on a jet ski as well,” Pintard said.

“They did a phenomenal job, not just with us. What we saw when we came out is that they continued to go back in and over and over again,” he added.

Jensen Burrows and d’Sean Smith were two of the volunteers who formed the jet ski rescue crew, and they estimate that they were able to save at least 100 people in their search missions.

It all began when they made an attempt to rescue Smith’s friend on Monday, but were only able to get as far as the Grand Bahama Airport, where they found dozens of people in need of help, including a pregnant woman and a baby that was in a Styrofoam cooler.

“On Monday, it was really just my two workers and Jensen, so four of us. Tuesday was another effort that ballooned into something else,” Smith explained.

Soon after, the jet skiers began receiving more requests for help online and carried out rescue missions throughout the day. By Tuesday, Smith was able to reach his friend’s house, which was his initial destination before his journey began.

Tuesday also saw about a dozen other jet skiers join the organized rescue effort.

“The water conditions were so high, so we didn’t know if we were riding over water or land. I was pretty much driving my jet ski into peoples’ living rooms to rescue them,” Burrows, one of the rescuers, told reporters.

Earlier this week, the Mind Unleashed reported on another good samaritan, a farmer from Florida who purchased $50,000 worth and food and generators to be sent to the Bahamas.