A boy who fled his Caribbean home with his Maltese grandmother will celebrate his sixth birthday with his mother, now that they are finally reunited.

Xaydin and his grandmother Karen Freeman (née Vella) landed in Malta earlier this month after two weeks stuck in London waiting for a passport for the five-year-old.

They had been evacuated from Tortola – the largest island in the British Virgin Islands – which had been transformed overnight by Hurricane Irma.

Xaydin’s mother, Kyrah, who is Karen’s daughter, was on another Virgin Island when Irma hit, pursuing her studies in psychology.

Kyrah was on Saint Thomas, also devastated by Irma. She made her mother promise she would take care of Xaydin, giving her blessing for the evacuation. The mission is now accomplished, since Kyrah, who was born in Malta, has joined her mother and son in Malta.

I was told a mother and two children died just 15 minutes away from where we were

The reunion at the airport yesterday was heartwarming. Xaydin was not informed that he would be meeting his mother, and could not believe it when she stepped out of the arrivals gate.

Once he hugged his mother, he did not let go Ms Freeman said, adding that Xaydin had never been separated for so long from his mother. Even while she was studying on Saint Thomas, she would visit every week or two.

Xaydin will turn six on Thursday, and the family now hopes to settle down in Malta, with Kyrah hopefully transferring her scholarship credits here once her college in St Thomas gets back on its feet following the devastation.

One thing they are definitely looking forward to is getting some rest.

“We will never forget the traumatising ordeal. After the hurricane devastated Tortola, I was told that a mother and two children died just 15 minutes away from where Xaydin and I were.

“Kyrah herself came across the corpse of a woman, who had been killed by the storm, lying on a street. We will never forget,” she reiterated.