Bahamians attempting to flee the devastation wrought by Hurricane Dorian have been kicked off a boat headed to the US.

People from the Caribbean nation are normally allowed into the US without a visa as long as they fly there, have a passport and hold a clean police record.

This rule was extended to also include boat arrivals amid growing fears that a major humanitarian crisis could now kill thousands in the storm-battered country.

But desperate refugees who had boarded a ferry for Florida on Sunday were removed at the last minute, with crew members telling them they would not be allowed into the US without a visa.

An announcement told passengers without such paperwork to disembark. More than 130 people in total were kicked off board – including several children.

"Huge damage" as record Hurricane Dorian hits Bahamas: In pictures Show all 15 1 /15 "Huge damage" as record Hurricane Dorian hits Bahamas: In pictures "Huge damage" as record Hurricane Dorian hits Bahamas: In pictures A road is flooded during the passing of Hurricane Dorian in Freeport, Grand Bahama. AP "Huge damage" as record Hurricane Dorian hits Bahamas: In pictures Hurricane Dorian's eye taken by Nasa astronaut Nick Hague, from aboard the International Space Station. The station orbits more than 200 miles above the Earth. Hurricane Dorian, which made landfall on the Bahamas as category 5 and now reclassified as category 4, is expected to continue on its projected path towards the Florida coast. Nasa/EPA "Huge damage" as record Hurricane Dorian hits Bahamas: In pictures Buildings damaged by Hurricane Dorian are swept by deep floodwater in the Abaco Islands in The Bahamas. Latrae Rahming "Huge damage" as record Hurricane Dorian hits Bahamas: In pictures Tropical Storm Dorian as it approached the Bahamas. NOAA/AFP/Getty "Huge damage" as record Hurricane Dorian hits Bahamas: In pictures Strong winds blow the tops of trees while whisking up water from the surface of a canal that leads to the sea in Freeport, Grand Bahama AP "Huge damage" as record Hurricane Dorian hits Bahamas: In pictures A woman walks in a flooded street after the effects of Hurricane Dorian arrived in Nassau, Bahamas. REUTERS "Huge damage" as record Hurricane Dorian hits Bahamas: In pictures Uprooted trees, fallen power lines and debris scatter a road as Hurricane Dorian sweeps through Marsh Harbour in The Bahamas Ramond A King via Reuters "Huge damage" as record Hurricane Dorian hits Bahamas: In pictures Buildings damaged by Hurricane Dorian are swept by deep floodwater in the Abaco Islands in The Bahamas Latrae Rahming "Huge damage" as record Hurricane Dorian hits Bahamas: In pictures A building is strewn with debris after its roof was torn off by Hurricane Dorian in the Abaco Islands in The Bahamas Latrae Rahming "Huge damage" as record Hurricane Dorian hits Bahamas: In pictures Uprooted trees, fallen power lines and debris scatter a road as Hurricane Dorian sweeps through Marsh Harbour in The Bahamas Ramond A King via Reuters "Huge damage" as record Hurricane Dorian hits Bahamas: In pictures Hurricane Dorian is pictured from a plane flying inside the eye of the storm Garrett Black/US Air Force "Huge damage" as record Hurricane Dorian hits Bahamas: In pictures Inmates from a Florida jail fill sandbags to hand out to residents ahead of Hurricane Dorian in Cocoa, Florida on September 1 EPA "Huge damage" as record Hurricane Dorian hits Bahamas: In pictures Residents stock up at Wal-Mart in preparation for Hurricane Dorian in Orlando, Florida Getty "Huge damage" as record Hurricane Dorian hits Bahamas: In pictures A shop is boarded-up ahead of Hurricane Dorian in Cocoa, Florida on September 1 Reuters "Huge damage" as record Hurricane Dorian hits Bahamas: In pictures Waves batter a pier in Marsh Harbour in The Bahamas on September 1e Mark Hall vie Reuters

“They originally said you can come with a police record and without a visa and now they're taking that back,” one woman onboard told Miami’s WSVN 7 News. “That's really ridiculous. That's awful.”

Renard Oliver, a father forced off the ferry, held back tears as he said: “I have to take my baby off. At the last minute like this, is kind of disappointing. It's hurtful watching my daughters cry.”

But suggestion that the US Customs and Border Protection had ordered the ship to remove people without visas was flatly denied by officials – who suggested the boat company, Balearia, had made a “business decision” not to allow such people to sail.

“It’s important to note,” an official told WSVN 7 News, “if those folks had stayed on the boat and arrived, we would have processed them, vetted them and worked without our laws and protocols and done what we had to do to facilitate them. I think it was a business decision by Balearia to remove them. They were not ordered off the boat by any US government agency.”

Asked if they would have been allowed in the country, the official said: “Yes.”

It was pointed out that other ships had already landed in Florida – including a boat with 1,000 people on board on Friday and one with 1,500 on Saturday – where arrivals had not needed visas.

Hurricane Dorian has killed at least 46 people after striking the Bahamas last Sunday as Category 5 storm with winds topping a record-breaking 185mph.

It is estimated some 76,000 people are now in immediate danger of disease and starvation, while the some 45 per cent of homes on the country’s Abaco Islands and Grand Bahama have been either severely damaged or destroyed. Surveyors put the total cost of the catastrophe at £5.6 billion.

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Aerial photos show miles of flattened and flooded communities. On the ground, local journalists reported that vast swathes of the islands were essentially uninhabitable with water and power supplies down and bodies piling up. Militias have been formed to prevent widespread looting, local media has reported.