Belco is to send a six-person crew to the Bahamas after the Caribbean archipelago was hit by Hurricane Frances over the weekend and suffered major outages.

They leave today and could be there for five days.

And, while Government has not given the order to the Bermuda Regiment to begin deploying aid to the Caribbean, commanding officer Lt. Col. Eddie Lamb said they were ?able and willing to lend assistance at the drop of a dime?.

?That is very much in the forefront of my mind and if the opportunity does present itself we will do so, but that is a matter for our Government,? he said.

Belco spokeswoman Linda Smith said the crew would be working mainly on secondary lines as the main lines were already repaired.

The Bahamas is one of six members of the Caribbean Association of Electric Utilities (CARILEC) who sent 41 people to Bermuda to help restore power in the aftermath of Hurricane Fabian, last year.

Bermuda is returning the favour following instructions from CARILEC.

Ms Smith said no instructions had yet been received about whether Bermuda would be sending help to Grenada in the wake of Hurricane Ivan, which has claimed nine lives, reduced concrete homes to rubble and sent roofs flying after the category four storm roared through there on Tuesday.

She said: ?Emergency relief organisations are trying to determine the extent of the damage and when they have done that CARILEC will be asked to lend support to Grenada.?

Bermuda?s Government has offered to send aid to hurricane-hit Caribbean islands and is waiting for details of what is needed.

West Indian Association president Susan Moore-Williams said members were being asked to use their contacts to find out what help was needed.

?Each territory will be doing a needs assessment. There is no point in us sending clothes if people need food.?

A statement about what help will be sent is likely in the next few days.