 The Government of St. Lucia is providing assistance to 139 OECS citizens who are part of the seasonal agricultural workers program after they were stranded in St. Vincent and the Grenadines as a result of the eruption of the Lasso Free Air Volcano. The agricultural workers, 98 Svint-Sentions, 18 St. Lucians and 23 Grenadians were on route to Canada for employment on Canadian farms when their flight from St. Vincent to Canada was cancelled. The workers arrived in St. Lucia on Saturday 10 April 2021 via cruise ship Serenade of the Seas and will remain in St. Lucia until new flight arrangements. A second group of workers are in Barbados. Nadia Pialoui is the Employment Officer in the Department of Labour. We are in discussion with the Eastern Caribbean Leisure Service and they are going to say to us when another charter can be arranged. From the looks of things we are looking at about Tuesday for them leaving St. Lucia onto Canada but we also have another batch of workers who are stuck in Barbados and because of the visibility problems we are not able to have them to come into St. Lucia as yet. The situation remains very fluid. In St. Vincent and the Grenadines, tremors lasting up to 20 minutes have continued to be recorded with periods of explosive activity or enhanced venting at the volcano. Heavy ashfall is affecting the island as well as neighbouring islands particularly Barbados and St. Lucia. Explosions and accompanying ashfall of similar or larger magnitude are likely to continue to occur over the next few days. One of the command centre and Minister for Tourism, Information Broadcasting and Creative Industries Hon. Dominic Fede was at point Seraphine to welcome the seasonal farm workers. He says government is more than willing to assist one of the island's closest neighbours in this extremely difficult time. We have so much in common in terms of our size. We are in the same geographic region. We speak the same language, the culture. You have some similarities. It is natural for you to come to the rescue of your neighbour in its time of need. This is really the ethos that has really underpinned the response that has taken place. The Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines is a very good partner for the Eastern Caribbean and the significant work that they have done. It is good that they see it is important to ensure that the destinations or the places that they would bring their customers to are catered to in their time of need and to help in the rebuilding effort is really special and it says a lot about their business philosophy. The National Emergency Management Organisation NIMO, the Ministry of Health, the Senushe Air and Seaport Authority Sraswa, the Ministry of Tourism, the Department of Labour and other relevant agencies are assisting in the coordination of the effort and ensuring all the necessary public health protocols are followed. Parker Ragnan, the Chief Environmental Health Officer and Wunan Faswa, Security Advisor, were among the team leaders overseeing the process. Upon entering the island, they were screened for COVID-19, that is, therefore they went through a temperature check, a little bit of interview and then after that, Port Health Clarence, they then proceeded to immigration for Clarence from which they boarded a bus and was taken to a quarantine facility. The agencies would have known their role, Port Health, the cadets who involved the NIMO agencies in several transportation, so a lot of agencies came together to ensure that we pull off this particular operation. I know the first set that we are dealing with now are more people from the Ministry of Labour, but as far as the arrangement for it, you know, we still had to pull everything together and it generally worked out very smoothly. The 139 farm workers will remain in quarantine, including the 18 St Lucians, in order to ensure the health and safety of the group. Departure remains uncertain at this moment, given the effect of ashfall in Barbados and here in St. Dusha. In fact, Slasper, on the very Saturday evening, took a decision, out of an abundance of caution and in the interest of safety, to shut down operations at the Hironora International Airport, as a cloud of volcanic ash was heading towards the runway. Minister Fadi says government will do all within its power to meet the needs of the workers. Based on the availability of flights, it will determine the time. If you look at what's taking place in Barbados, there's severe ash that's going towards Barbados, a hub really for aviation in the eastern Caribbean. And then when you think of all the restrictions with COVID and all of the limitations in flights that are available, then that would pose some challenge in the number of seats available. Yesterday we saw that there were two that were delayed in coming, for that very same reason. So what we have to do is to make sure that we work together and be there side by side with the government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Government continues to prepare for the arrival of 300 evacuees in the first instance from the sister aisle. Some 12,000 Vincentians are in need of shelter. St. Lucia's intake will increase as space is identified. They will be accommodated at various hotels. Also, a Sanution House Bank has been launched. A registration form is to be filled out by Sanucians who are willing and have the capacity to house displaced Vincentians. Interested Sanucians can fill out the registration form which can be accessed on the Government of St. Lucia website www.govt.lc. From the Government Information Service, Lisa Joseph reporting.