TCI News
Maranatha students speak up as bomb threat forces school closure; deadly and dated bomb threats written on school wall
#Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands – October 23, 2018 – What if there really is a bomb? It was the recurring question from students and teachers of Maranatha Academy who hovered outside of the buildings at the educational facility on Millennium Highway in Provo, hoping that the messages to their school were untrue. Those messages were noticed yesterday scribbled onto the wall. Police turned up last night to take statements, we are told… but that was it. 
A female student said: “I think they should have told us this from yesterday because we would not have had to go through this today. If they found it out yesterday and they see the date, what if there was a real bomb. Are they really caring about our safety?” In response to a question on the wait on Police before school could begin: “I feel the police really has let us down as a community and are not really doing their job, they don’t really care for us as the youth seeing that we have called them and they have not arrived. As a young person in Blue Hills, they really let me down.”
A member of the Maranatha Student Council was also eager to share his thoughts when asked: “On behalf of the students of Maranatha, we are very disappointed in our own Police because you cannot have such a crucial emergency like people’s lives are in danger and you don’t even show up. It doesn’t make any sense, you’re not taking this serious and this could have led to people losing their lives. If this is the Police we have then Turks and Caicos is heading into the wrong direction.”
Magnetic Media was alerted to the situation when a parent, furious about the ‘no show’ of police this morning at Maranatha contacted us to express her disappointment that there was no attention being paid to the matter by authorities; at least from her vantage point.
Our visit to Maranatha revealed that Police were still not on the scene and had not been since yesterday when they were first informed of the deadly threats. Scribbled on the wall of the school – as you can see here – was a promise to blow up the school on October 23, 2018 which is today. One of the messages said ‘Dear Maranatha, you are dead’.
A student pointed to the CCTV cameras across the street, she hoped Police would be able to check it for evidence of who could be behind the threat. We asked students if they thought the bomb threat was real. 
“I really don’t know, but I feel like it is real.”
One member of faculty called the matter of the bomb threat serious and was unable to say whether the police searched the premises.
Principal of Maranatha Academy, Renford Trail declined to comment but said children were being allowed to return home as he did not want to occupy any of the buildings until the Police gave him the okay. He was still waiting on Police and that ‘okay’ when we left the school yard around 10 a.m.
Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands, 20 February 2026 — The Informal Settlements Unit (ISU), in collaboration with key
government agencies, coordinated a multi-agency enforcement exercise on Thursday, February 5, 2026, at Block and Parcel 60609/33 in the Five Cays area.
The exercise was led by the Crown Land Unit, pursuant to its statutory mandate under the Crown Land Ordinance to prevent squatting and encroachment on Crown land. The ISU coordinated the operation, with support provided by the Planning Department and the Turks and Caicos Islands Border Force, while the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force ensured security throughout the activity.
The enforcement action followed a series of inspections conducted by the Crown Land Unit throughout Five Cays, which identified several illegally constructed buildings made of concrete and timber on sections of the subject parcel. In keeping with the provisions of the Crown Land Ordinance, occupied structures were served Letters of Illegal Occupation, delivered by hand to occupants and
posted on structures where individuals were absent. Incomplete and unoccupied structures were served Notices of Unauthorized Occupation pursuant to section 22 of the Ordinance. A total of ten (10) Letters of Illegal Occupation and three (3) Notices of Unauthorized Occupation were issued during the exercise.
The Informal Settlements Unit reiterates that these coordinated enforcement exercises form part of the Government’s ongoing efforts to uphold the law, protect Crown land, and manage informal settlements in a structured and lawful manner. Members of the public are reminded that unauthorised occupation and development on Crown land is unlawful and subject to enforcement action.
Almost two million visitors recorded in 2025
PROVIDENCIALES, TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS – The Turks and Caicos Islands saw an increase in stayover arrivals in December, seven percent higher than the corresponding period in 2024.
Preliminary data suggests that stay over arrivals by air for the month of December was 66,427 in comparison to 62,610 in December 2024.
From January to December 2025, preliminary visitor arrival numbers totalled 640,754; on par with the number recorded for the same period of 2024.
Stay Over Arrivals YTD December 2024/2025
The first quarter of the calendar year attracted the largest number of arrivals with visitor arrivals three percent higher than the first quarter of 2024. Reduced airlift from the United Kingdom and the United States, most notably the Virgin Atlantic and JetBlue services, was however felt from the second quarter (April to June). As a result, visitor arrivals dropped three percent in the second quarter.
By the third quarter of this year (July to September), geopolitical and economic conditions in the key source markets, namely the United States, led to further contraction of arrivals. In the last quarter of 2025, arrivals were impacted in October due to the passage of Hurricane Melissa but additional airlift from the USA and Canada resulted in an increase in arrivals in November and December.
Mr. Paul Pennicook, Interim CEO Consultant of Experience Turks and Caicos, said December’s increase in stayover arrivals is an encouraging indicator of the sustained interest in the Turks and Caicos Islands as a premier destination.
“While we note and continue to monitor geopolitical shifts that affect us, Experience Turks and Caicos is focused on increasing marketing initiatives in our primary source markets. We have spent the last two years investing in groundwork such as crucial travel advisor training to assist them in selling the destination more effectively. In the next fiscal, we will be building on those initiatives with co-op activities with partners as well as out of home advertising to increase visitation to our destination,” he said.
In Cruise, the preliminary count of passenger arrivals for the month of December 2025 was 129,346, a 22 percent increase over last December. This growth follows the berthing of 11 additional ships in Grand Turk this month.
From January to December, the cruise sector continued to outperform the same period last year, as the 1.3 million total cruise passengers recorded, marks a five percent Year-on-Year increase. 
The cruise sector experienced significant growth in the first quarter of 2025, with passenger arrivals surpassing last quarter by 53 percent. In the second and third quarter however, several cruise lines adjusted their itineraries as vessels were pulled from the fleet or from the Caribbean region, which resulted in fewer passengers.
Arrivals dropped seven percent and 10 percent in the second and third quarters, respectively. Double digit growth was recorded in the last two months of Quarter 4. This growth however, was not sufficient to outweigh the drop in arrivals experienced in October, following the cancellation of cruise calls due to the passage of Hurricane Melissa. Despite the late-quarter rebound, arrivals for the final quarter of 2025 closed six percent below the same period in 2024.
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