Hurricane Odile: Canadian tourists return home on evacuation flights
Electricity, water cut off and supermarkets stripped bare in post-storm Los Cabos
Days after a hurricane forced the cancellation of all commercial flights out of the international airport in Los Cabos, Mexico, some of the first Canadians to return home have landed in Vancouver.
A Sunwing Airlines evacuation flight carrying 185 adults and five infants arrived at Vancouver International Airport on Wednesday evening.
Passenger Bradley Lutz told CBC News the popular resort area has been devastated.
"No food, no water, no toilets. I had to walk 10 miles to grab food," he said after arriving in Vancouver. "I got attacked by a wild dog in the bush, it bit my arm, just to come back with a can of beans."
Debbie Reid had a tearful reunion with her daughter.
"We didn't know if you were on the plane," she said. "We've been here all day. We just found out you were on the plane now."
Evan Powroznik said getting out wasn't easy, as tourists rushed to the damaged airports in an attempt to get home.
"I went and I talked to a representative from one of the travel agents and was like, 'How are we getting out of here? We're from Canada.' And they're like, 'Oh you're from Canada? Do you have proof of citizenship?' And then they took us to the Sunwing people, who got us out."
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A second Sunwing flight to Toronto's Pearson International Airport landed early Thursday morning, Sunwing said in a statement.
Commercial flights in and out of Los Cabos have been cancelled until the end of September.
With files from The Associated Press