MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falkland Islands competitors skip ash cloud and are en route to Island Games

The Falklands will be competing in six disciplines

Falkland Islands competitors and delegates, with patience and persistence, finally managed to skip the volcanic ash cloud and are on their way to the Isle of Wight for the NatWest Island Games which open next Saturday.

Delays to flights in and out of the Falkland Islands in recent weeks because of the Puyehue volcano had been causing concern amongst members of the Falkland Islands Overseas Games Association (FIOGA) who are due to take part in a variety of disciplines at the NatWest Island Games in coming days.

But on Wednesday the volcanic ash cloud, which has been causing disruption to Ministry of Defence “air-bridge” flights since the beginning of June and which was also responsible for a three day delay to Saturday’s weekly Lan Chile flight had cleared enough to ensure that all of FIOGA’s sportsmen and women were able to take off for the Isle of Wight.

On Wednesday the nineteen competitors travelling through Chile arrived in Santiago after facing a further delay due to the ash cloud in Punta Arenas. From Santiago they left for Madrid and are expected to arrive in the UK in time for the opening ceremony at the weekend.

Also travelling with the competitors is the organisation’s Chairman Mike Summers, who is standing for a place on the Falklands’ Legislative Assembly. Voters will be going to the polls in Stanley on Thursday.

The opening ceremony for the Island Games is taking place in Ryde on the Isle of Wight on Saturday and if there are no further serious delays in flights from South America, the Falkland Islands will be represented in six disciplines; swimming, running, badminton, football, golf and shooting.

The first events that the Falkland Islanders should be taking part in will be on Sunday 26th June and will include a badminton team event, a football match against Guernsey, a half marathon running event and clay pigeon shooting.

Ash from the Puyehue volcano in Southern Chile has been causing disruption to both domestic and international air travel in the Falklands since it erupted on 4th June. The local air service, FIGAS grounded their aircraft on more than one occasion because of a combination of ash and fog and the British International helicopter service was also affected.

On Monday 20th June the first MoD air-bridge flight since the beginning of the month landed at Mount Pleasant Airport in the Falkland Islands. A total of nine MoD flights, which also carries civilian passengers were affected by the ash could. The backlog of passengers is now almost clear with the remainder of the delayed travellers flying southbound from RAF Brize Norton arriving in the Falklands on Thursday.

Corina Ashbridge - Sealed PR - Stanley