At least 368 Canadians are stranded across the Caribbean in the wake of Hurricanes Irma and Jose.

Government officials confirmed the number Monday, but said there could be more isolated Canadians who have not yet reached out for assistance.

Most of the Canadians are in the French-Dutch island of St. Martin/St. Maarten, in the Leeward Islands at the top of the West Indies, to the east of Puerto Rico, and in the Turks and Caicos, near The Bahamas, while others are scattered across The Bahamas, themselves; Cuba; The Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and in other Leeward Islands, such as The British Virgin Islands, Antigua and St. Barts (St. Barthelemy).

“It is very hard for us to know the total number of Canadians affected. We can only go by the number of people who have reached out to us,” said Omar Alghabra, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The number of Canadians stranded in the U.S. will be determined in the next couple of days.

West Jet and Air Canada will be providing flights out of St. Martin and Turks and Caicos Monday night. A military jet will be heading to the Caribbean later this week to pick up any Canadians left behind.

Michael Moriarty is still in survival mode, days after being hit by Hurricane Irma in St. Maarten and the “pure anarchy” that followed.

Moriarty and his wife are safe but shell-shocked following the hurricane.

“It hasn’t stopped,” Moriarty told the Star on Monday. “We’re on high alert.”

Now in Puerto Rico, Moriarty and his wife Meryl Zavitz expect to return to their Ajax home Monday evening.

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“There’s so many Canadians and other nationalities still stuck there. It’s appalling. The looting has gotten even worse.”

Medical student from Toronto Morvarid Sanandaji, 24, is trapped in St. Maarten, where she studies. Sanandaji gives a video tour of the her cousin's home that was torn apart.

Moriarty described looting and scarce food, water and medicine in St. Maarten, where they stayed at Simpson Bay Resort and Marina.

“I can’t describe the dire situation that everyone there is left in. We got unbelievably lucky twice; first to survive the hurricane and second to get picked out to get on a small little Caribbean airline.”

After the hurricane, Moriarty said the resort was the safest place to be. Still, a friend’s room was looted.

“People were doing what they had to do to survive, at the expense of other people,” Moriarty said. “Which was the most traumatizing part.”

Moriarty and a friend travelled to a market that normally supplies cruises and yachts, where they were able to get the last two 24-packs of water and food.

They were approached by people carrying boards with nails, demanding their spot in line for food.

The couple attempted to fly out multiple times.

At Princess Juliana Airport in St. Maarten, Moriarty said Americans and EU citizens were prioritized.

“There was a lot of emotion, a lot of pleading, a lot of bargaining, making contracts with the devil’s soul, just to please, please, even just to take the children,” he recalled. “And it was, ‘sorry, we’re not allowed.’”

Three lines were formed on Sunday: one for EU citizens, one for Americans and one for everyone else – “the third class citizens, so to speak,” Moriarty said.

The couple, along with a few other Canadians, were evacuated free of charge by Seaborne Airlines.

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“I didn’t believe it,” Moriarty said. “Honestly, I didn’t believe it.”

United Airlines provided a room for free Sunday night, and the couple paid for their flights out of Puerto Rico.

Moriarty is frustrated by the response by the Canadian government.

“The government has done nothing for us,” he said. “No information.”

Moriarty said people “should not be left to defend themselves in such a manner that destroys them.”

A spokesperson for Transport Canada said the federal agency was coordinating efforts between Global Affairs Canada and the airlines to help Canadians stranded in the hurricane zone.

“Canadian airlines are not legally obligated to assist during a natural disaster, but Canadian air carriers do frequently work to support government efforts in this regard,” wrote Marie-Anyk Côté in an email.

She advised that Canadians leaving the country should always check the federal government's travel advice and advisories page when planning their trip, as well as shortly before leaving, in order to get the latest information on natural hazards and local safety conditions.

Frederic Dimanche, the director of Ryerson University’s Ted Rogers School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, said that it can be hard to determine what duty airlines and travel agencies have to customers affected by a disaster because laws and regulations vary depending on the country in which the company is based.

“The difficulty with the travel business is you may be booking a trip and the tour operator you are booking from may not be from Canada,” he said.

“Or you may be booking a trip that’s organized by a tour operator in Canada but that’s using airlines that are not Canadian. There are several jurisdictions basically that may be responsible for different parts of the trip.”

Within Canada, the federal Canadian Transportation Agency is in charge of protecting air passenger rights, while travel agencies are governed by provincial laws and regulations that differ from province to province.

According to a spokesperson for the CTA, airlines must abide by the terms of their contracts with passengers, also know as “tariffs,” which set out passengers’ rights but also limit airlines’ liability. Air Canada’s tariff for international flights states that the carrier isn’t responsible for cancellations or delays caused by “force majeure,” or unavoidable events like natural disasters.

“During a force majeure event, the airlines are not obligated to put on extra flights, nor to change the terms and conditions of the fares purchased by affected passengers in order for them to travel on different dates than originally scheduled,” the CTA spokesperson said in an email.

Travel agencies also have no legal obligation to help stranded customers evacuate, according to the Travel Industry Council of Ontario (TICO), a non-profit corporation responsible for ensuring companies adhere to provincial travel legislation.

But Richard Smart, the CEO of TICO, said that while it’s not explicitly spelled out in the legislation, travel agencies should warn customers of risks such as travelling to vulnerable areas during hurricane season.

“Where a location is particularly prone to hurricanes or tornadoes or whatever it happens to be, then the onus is on the agent to know that location and make sure that when they’re describing that location to the consumer that they’re advising them accordingly,” he said.

To request emergency assistance, Canadians can contact the Government of Canada at 1-613-996-8885, or sos@international.gc.ca .

With files from The Canadian Press and Ben Spurr

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