The island’s recent political upheaval has become the subject of an April Fool’s spoof featured in an international sailing publication under the headline ‘Perfect storm strikes Bermuda’.

Meanwhile, a second spoof appeared on the same site under the headline ‘America’s Cup to bring untreated sewage to Great Sound” in order to match the sailing conditions of the Olympic Games.

The first article, which appears on Sailingscuttlebutts.com, speaks of Premier Michael Dunkley declaring a “state of emergency” and “an island-wide curfew” being imposed as a result of “widespread rioting and looting throughout the country”.

Sailingscuttlebutts.com, which has extensively featured Bermuda’s successful America’s Cup bid, continues: “Riots erupted yesterday outside Session House, along Front Street, and at groceries in all parishes leaving produce shelves bare while labour unions and government remain at an impasse on immigration and labour policies.”

Further compounding the island’s troubles, the article goes on to claim, was “Cyclone Alex” which had caused “an Arctic front sweeping down from Canada” before hitting Bermuda.

“The British government have taken an unprecedented measure and have arranged for the drop shipment of emergency food and medical provisions,” it said.

The article is accompanied by a photograph, apparently taken from Bernews.com, of a man holding up a sign saying “people should not fear the government, government should fear the people”.

Contacted by this newspaper for comment, editor of the site Craig Leweck said he could not reveal the origin of the article but went on to say: “With the America’s Cup comes a bright spotlight that can find uncomfortable details.”

Just minutes after the first article appeared, a second article claimed that “with a generous grant from Larry Ellison, work will begin immediately on rerouting the untreated sewage outfall pipes from the City of Hamilton and the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital from their current location off Grape Bay Beach on the South Shore, redirecting them northwest through Paget Marsh to Salt Kettle Bay on the eastern edge of the Great Sound.”

It continued that “between 500,000 and 1,000,000 gallons of raw sewage to the sailing areas to guarantee the America’s Cup matches will be sailed in the same conditions deemed suitable for the Olympic Games.”

The only indication that the articles are a joke, besides their content, is a small tag at the bottom saying “April Fools”.