Philanthropist promises Island?s first air ambulance operational soon

Bermuda?s first flying doctor air ambulance service is expected soon to start flying the sick to hospitals overseas.

Philanthropist David Barber who donated $2 million in memory of his wife, Mary, to Air Medivac Limited said service was expected to start in a few weeks.

?There has been a hold-up, but we are expecting to be operating by the end of January,? Mr. Barber said. ?It?s very good news.?

He said according to American regulations the company had to be owned by an American citizen.

?Luckily, one of the directors, Sheldon Smith has dual citizenship,? Mr. Barber said. Mr. Smith could not be reached for comment yesterday.

But Mr. Barber said he and the rest of the Air Medivac team had a meeting this week where they discussed the planes imminent arrival.

Mr. Barber?s donation allowed the company to buy a Cessna airplane for use as an air ambulance for Bermuda.

The air ambulance will allow emergency patients to be airlifted from Bermuda within one or two hours.

Currently, patients must wait for air ambulances from the United States or Canada which can take up to 24 hours.

Including this donation, Mr. Barber, 91, has donated more than $4 million to various charities around the Island since 2000.

Tsunami survivors on the move

Bermudians Jim and Lolly Burnett-Herkes, who survived the tsunami in South Asia and have been in Thailand helping with clean-up operations, have just set sail for Cochin in India.

They were snorkeling in Phi Phi, Thailand when the tsunami hit on December 26 and survived after being washed up on a secluded cove and climbing a rock face to safety.

The Burnett-Herkes are sailing around the world with friends, and Bermudian home-owners, David and Claire Lewis, on board the.

In an e-mail yesterday, Mr. Lewis said they departed Thailand on Wednesday and expect to spend between seven and ten days at sea.

?As long as the weather treats us well,? Mr. Lewis said.

They will spend a few days in Cochin, along India?s West Coast as opposed to travelling to the Maldives, which was their original destination before the tsunami hit South Asia, including the Maldives.

Devil?s Hole vandal charged

A man accused of vandalising five cars during a rampage in Devil?s Hole last week faces a court date after denying five charges of wilful damage yesterday.

But 21-year-old Jahewing Adams, of no fixed abode, Devonshire pleaded guilty to one count of breaking and entering Harrington Sound Workmen?s Club on January 12.

Adams will be sentenced on February 8 when he will also face trial for the other alleged offences.

Thief strikes at Warwick Long Bay

A backpacker had his possessions stolen from his livery cycle at Warwick Long Bay on Saturday.

Police said the 21-year-old visitor went to the beach with his friends at 3 p.m. but when he returned to his rental cycle 15 minutes later, his backpack had been stolen.

Police said the backpack contained personal items.

Car crash men improve

A 36-year-old Devonshire man remains in intensive care in hospital for the second day in a ?serious but stable condition? after the car he was in collided head-on with a water truck on Hermitage Road on Sunday.

However, the other man in the car, a 39-year-old Pembroke man, is in ?stable condition? in a general ward at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

Police said yesterday the car was travelling north on Hermitage Road, Devonshire, when the crash occurred at about 10.30 a.m. Both vehicles were extensively damaged.

Police reported 13 road accidents resulted in injury over the weekend. And there were 21 damage-only collisions.

Two people were arrested for impaired driving and there were six break-ins: two in Warwick, one in Sandys, one in Southampton, one in Paget and one in Devonshire.