Looting begins in aftermath of Wilma

Looters prowled the streets of Mexico's resort-studded Yucatan Peninsula as raging winds, tidal surges and driving rain from Hurricane Wilma left towns and cities deep in water and strewn with debris.

Luxury hotels in Cancun's Riviera Maya strip have been cut off since Friday by the hurricane, as huge seas surged inland killing four people, bowling over palm trees and knocking down buildings in the popular coastal strip that draws in millions of tourists each year.

In nearby Playa del Carmen on the mainland, looting broke out, as residents sacked storm-battered stores, staggering off with refrigerators, bicycles and television sets.

Battered and weary tourists emerged on to the ravaged streets of Cancun early on Sunday after three nights trapped in dark, airless storm shelters, to witness a devastated cityscape of bowled-over telephone kiosks, ripped-up bus shelters and flooded hotel lobbies.

"It looks like a war zone out there," British tourist Thomas Hall, after spending the weekend at a makeshift refuge in a theatre.

Mexico's President Vicente Fox headed to the devastated region, as the Mexican Army poised to carry out relief operations and restore order in communities devastated by the storm, the latest killer in a record hurricane season that runs through to the end of next month.

Mexico was also scrambling to rescue thousands of tourists trapped in stifling shelters in its Caribbean beach resorts before food, water and medicine shortages cause chaos.

Fox said yesterday that the airport in Cancun would not be open for at least two more days and his Government would send buses to pull out tourists. "There is huge devastation. This hurricane has provoked a tremendous impact."

It was not clear how many tourists were stranded but one senior police official estimated there were about 20,000 just in Cancun.

"People are starting to get sick. Some of the elderly people are becoming ill," said US tourist Doug Ruby. "We've got to get out."

- INDEPENDENT, REUTERS