Virgin Australia has confirmed a “serious security incident” with its flight crew members who were in Fiji on New Year’s Day.

Virgin Australia’s chief operating officer Stuart Aggs said the incident took place on Tuesday night – New Year’s Eve

The crew members were in Fiji on night layover.

Fiji police said two crew members had alleged they were raped while out clubbing and one alleged her phone had been stolen.

They had gone out to a nightclub in Martintar.

“I’m sorry to advise of a serious security incident which affected a number of crew in Nadi, Fiji, on Tuesday evening,” said Aggs on New Year’s Day.

“Our immediate priority is to look after the wellbeing of our crew involved and make sure they are supported. The safety and welfare of our people is our number one priority.”

Virgin Australia has kept the crew members in Nadi as police investigations continue.

Republished from The Fiji Times with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Drunkards urinating in public, people fighting and nightclub goers passed out on the streets are usually the first things tourists arriving in Fiji through Nadi International Airport see while being taken to their hotels.

McDonalds Fiji managing director Marc McElrath highlighted this while sharing his views at a consultation for the review of the opening of nightclub hours at Suvavou House in Suva this week.

“There are 16 nightclubs in Nadi and that is a big number for a small town,” McElrath said.

He said every day around 4am, drunkards were often scattered along the streets when nightclubs closed for business.

McElrath said they had raised the issue with the police many times.

“Tourists arriving from the USA — or wherever they come from — at 6am, when they come through Martintar, it looks like they’re driving through Beirut,” he said.

“There are people knocked out on the footpaths, drunkards fighting, people punching each other, and they urinate all over the place.

“It really doesn’t look good for our tourists.

“The issue we face in Nadi is the fact that a lot of people who come out of nightclubs at around 4am to 5am are drunk and it spills out onto the streets.”

He said the police did not have the manpower to control the issue of early morning drunkards in Nadi.

“The issue is that we have 16 nightclubs with six police officers — the police are overwhelmed, there are drunk people and then fights.”

McElrath called on the authorities to consider the safety of people while reviewing the opening hours for nightclubs.

“I understand there are special zones, and I am not an expert on these hours.

“I think the hours need to be reduced in certain areas where police can’t control the overwhelming numbers.”

Arieta Vakasukawaqa is a Fiji Times reporter. Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

By Felix Chaudhary in Lautoka

“We’re stuck in the river, please come quickly.”

These were the last words spoken by a distraught daughter to her father-in-law as floods engulfed the vehicle she was travelling in.

Sheenal Mudliar, 25, and her father, Veer Goundar, had left Damodran Mudliar’s Uciwai home in Nadi about 4.30am on Sunday for Nadi International Airport to pick up her younger brother who was arriving from New Zealand.

About 15 minutes later she was calling for help.

“The rain was pouring and the wind was also quite strong, and when I got to the Uciwai Bridge at about 5.10am, I couldn’t see anything,” the distraught canegrower said.

“My daughter-in-law’s voice kept going round and round in my head and I got out of my car with a friend and we crossed to the bridge to try and look for them.”

-Partners-

Mudliar said the current was strong which made the search difficult.

‘We kept looking’
“We kept looking for about half-an-hour and when the water level went down a little bit, I drove to Nawai Police Post and reported the matter.”

Sheenal’s husband, Sandeep, was too grief-stricken to speak about the tragedy.

A search party organised by the family with the assistance of nearby villagers recovered Mudliar’s body at 9.30am on Sunday and Goundar was found about 4.30pm the same day.

Mudliar said the family was awaiting police to complete post-mortem examinations before making funeral arrangements.

Evacuation centres not ready
Evacuation centres were unprepared for the flooding and responses were slow.

No water, no food and no assistance for infants, young children and the elderly was the scene at St Andrews Primary School, Nadi, yesterday.

More than 500 people sought shelter there early Sunday morning after the Nawaka and Namotomoto rivers broke their banks.

Between the hours of 5am to 8am, residents of Nawaka Village and Nawajikuma and Nawaka tramline settlements waded through waist deep fast-flowing floodwater to seek shelter at St Andrews.

However, when they got to the school, the gates were locked.

The evacuees said they had no option but to climb over and enter the school.

“They had nowhere else to go and they only know St Andrews, it’s a safe place for them,” said Litia Taylor, a Nawaka resident and community liaison.

Evacuees reduced
When The Fiji Times arrived at the school yesterday morning, the number of evacuees had been reduced to 275.

“When evacuees arrived here, the school had not been informed that it was to open as an evacuation centre.

“We had people sitting in the veranda, many of them were shivering because they were wet from the floodwaters and we had mothers with young children who had no warm clothes or food.

“The classrooms were opened up about 11am.

“I have assisted government teams that visit St Andrews during past disasters and this has got to be the worst situation we have ever faced.

“There was no drinking water and whatever was coming out of the taps was brown and dirty.

“What was very disappointing is that no one from the District Officer Nadi’s office has visited the school to see what the needs are.”

When contacted yesterday morning, acting DO Nadi Faiyaz Ali said he was in Nausori and was making his way to Nadi.

Ali said his team was on the ground and conducting assessments of all evacuation centres in Nadi.

‘Worse than 2009 floods’
Local Government Minister Parveen Kumar described the crisis as worse than the 2009 floods, reports The Fiji Times‘ Shayal Devi.

He said this after surveying Ba’s central business district and residential areas that had been hit by floods from Tropical Cyclone Josie.

He provided meals and rations as part of immediate relief assistance.

“I can say without any hesitation that this is worse than 2009,” Kumar said.

“Every household has the same story in a sense that within a few minutes, the water came in and they were not able to save anything.”

Lautoka-based Felix Chaudhary is a senior journalist with The Fiji Times.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz