Starving islanders fight over the last scraps of food as looting continues on hurricane-hit St Martin and tourists boarding evacuation flights weep tears of relief now that hurricane is over

remaining scraps of food on St Martin, which was laid to waste by Hurricane Irma amid reports gangs of looters (inset, centre) are continuing to terrorise island communities. It comes as pictures emerged of tearful tourists (right) being evacuated from the devastated island (main and top left) as part of a major international relief effort. Hundreds of holidaymakers are still trying to leave, with dozens seen lining up outside the Princess Juliana Airport, which was left in ruins in the storm. People trapped on St Martin have described the 'biblical-scale destruction' on the island with one resident warning 'there's no food here. There's no water here.' There have been reports of people arming themselves with machetes to defend themselves on the island while one soldier said he was stopping attempted lootings every ten minutes.

picture by mailonline