bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Residents of the hurricane-battered resort city of Los Cabos in northern Mexico have armed themselves with guns and machetes to defend their homes from looters, as troops were deployed.
The government on Thursday sent extra federal police and soldiers to the Baja California peninsula to counter widespread looting that erupted after Hurricane Odile destroyed homes earlier this week.
Officials also confirmed the first two deaths from the storm, a 62-year-old South Korean mining executive missing since his car was swept away by floods and a German who died of a heart attack in a boat. A second South Korean remains missing.
The US embassy urged Americans still trapped in Los Cabos to rush to the local airport "during daylight hours" to catch an airlift organised to rescue thousands of stranded tourists.
Some 15,000 of 30,000 tourists have been evacuated so far.
Chaos took over this week as hundreds helped themselves to food, water, televisions and any goods they could grab in supermarkets and other shops after Odile knocked out power and flattened homes.
Now residents fear their houses are next, amid reports of armed and masked gangs roaming neighbourhoods.
Dressed in white and holding everything from bats to machetes, sticks and rocks, residents burned tyres and wood.
"We are keeping watch over dark streets from the second floor, with hundreds of flashlights from neighbours looking for the enemy," said Juan Antonio Carbajal Figueroa, one of the watchmen in the Lomas de San Jose residential neighbourhood.
A 27-year-old named Eduardo was guarding the street with a metal bar. "We are dressed in white because we are citizens of peace, but we won't allow anybody to loot our homes," he said.
Rodrigo Sanchez Villa, a lawyer for a hotel group, told local radio that masked gangs were pillaging shops, hotels and houses in Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo.
"The situation appears to be getting worse all the time. A lack of security is being added to the problem of shortages of food and water and the lack of local authorities," he said.
But Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong said authorities had "absolute control in terms of security" and that the military delivered tonnes of supplies, including drinking water.
At least seven suspected looters were detained, federal police said.
Baja California Sur Governor Marcos Alberto Covarrubias said police checkpoints would be set up to prevent "groups of criminals" from reaching the state capital, La Paz.
The state's chief prosecutor, Adonai Carreon Estrada, said at least 1,000 members of the gendarmerie and military arrived on Wednesday but that residents in up to 15 neighborhoods had organised their own security.
The storm caused nearly US$1 billion in damage, according to the Mexican Insurance Institutions Association.
Authorities were scrambling to restore electricity, with 75 per cent of Los Cabos still in the dark, while health officials planned to fumigate the area to prevent outbreaks of mosquito-borne diseases, state officials said.
In La Paz, hundreds of houses were damaged and local people ripped out drainpipes to access water.
"We don't have water for the toilet, to prepare food," said one resident, Isabel Aguirre. "We organised ourselves and came because we need to get water."
Additional reporting by Reuters


Householders take up arms against looters amid Mexico storm chaos

"Welcome" reads the sign behind a gun-toting supermarket employee in Los Cabos, where food, water and security are lacking. Photo: AP

"Welcome" reads the sign behind a gun-toting supermarket employee in Los Cabos, where food, water and security are lacking.Photo: AP

News

World

We're looking for the enemy, Mexican resort resident says, as tourists are airlifted out amid reports of pillaging and officials send in troops


Residents of the hurricane-battered resort city of Los Cabos in northern Mexico have armed themselves with guns and machetes to defend their homes from looters, as troops were deployed.


Householders take up arms against looters amid Mexico storm chaos

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}We're looking for the enemy, Mexican resort resident says, as tourists are airlifted out amid reports of pillaging and officials send in troops

We're looking for the enemy, Mexican resort resident says, as tourists are airlifted out amid reports of pillaging and officials send in troops