Fire devastates Caribbean resort island of Guanaja in Honduras

Residents forced to douse flames themselves with buckets of water

Aerial view of Guanaja island, in the Islas de la Bahia, Honduras, after a major fire (AFP/Getty)

More than 200 homes and businesses were destroyed in a blaze at a popular Caribbean resort island off Honduras on Saturday following a slow response from firefighting authorities in tackling the flames.

Pictures of the inferno posted on social media showed clusters of seaside properties engulfed in flames before collapsing into the water around tGuanaja, which has no fire service.

Residents were forced to douse the flames themselves with buckets of water.

Max Gonzales, minister of the National System for Risk Management and National Contingencies, said: “We can confirm that we have no human losses but vast material losses.”

Helicopters were eventually deployed by the Honduran air force to drop water on the blaze, which has destroyed 90 houses and damaged 120 more, Gonzalez said.

Four people were injured in the fire, but no lives have been lost, according to reports.

Guanaja is one of the country’s three picturesque Islas de la Bahia, or Bay Islands, famed for its dolphins and big coral reef popular with snorkelers and divers.