A Tragedy in Barbados (Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers)

In the predawn hours Sunday morning, the Codrington family was asleep in the apartment they had just moved in 2 weeks before.  There were 5 of them in the house that early morning--Donavere, 30, and wife Cassandra Codrington, 27; along with three of their four children, seven-year-old Shaquanda, three-year-old Shaquille and one-year-old Yashiro.  The 3 month old baby was at Grandma's for the night.  There had been some sort of rumbling a couple of hours earlier that neighbors dismissed as thunder but at 4:45 a huge roar jerked the neighbors out of their sleep.  Several ran outside just in time to see half of the apartment block disappear into a subterranean cave along with the cars in the garage. 

A neighbor rushed to the scene and heard the father of the family call out, saying his leg was broken.  The neighbor also heard the children crying.  Then another rumble as more of the ground gave way.  The neighbor ran and when the rumbling stopped and he returned, no one answered his calls.  No one has since.

Our heartfelt thanks to 12 person, 4 dog team from the Miami Dade police department who arrived last night and searched tirelessly for signs of life.  At noon, the Attorney General of Barbados announced that the operation would no longer be a rescue, but a recovery.  The dogs had sensed no signs of life by indicated two sites where human remains may be buried under debris.  As I write this, members of the Barbados Defense force, local emergency personnel and volunteers are frantically filling sandbags to keep the approaching rain from pouring into the gaping cavern.  They are working on ground that rumbles and near the remaining ruins of the apartment block which leans precariously close to tumbling into the hole.  It has been deemed too dangerous to send any more emergency workers down. 

Our nation mourns and hopes against hope that some miracle will come to pass.  God protect those still striving to clear the rubble, ears straining.

Further info and updates at http://news.caribseek.com/Barbados/Daily_Nation/article_54901.shtml

Photo at

http://www.nationnews.com/289686715934649.php