Ike forces space camp evacuation

Hurricane Ike is expected to hit Texas on Friday

A group of Scottish school pupils and teachers attending a space camp in Texas have been evacuated ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Ike.

The 26 students and five staff, who left Scotland last week, were visiting Nasa's headquarters.

The group, who are due to return to Scotland on Monday, were moved inland on Thursday night to a hotel close to Houston Airport.

All of them are well and they have spoken to their families.

A spokeswoman for Skills Development Scotland said the decision had been taken "in consultation with local emergency services and in line with our own health and safety procedures".

The organisation's director of careers, Danny Logue, said: "The safety of the students and our staff is our top priority.

"We have obviously considered flying the party home early - but at the present time because of the imminent arrival of Hurricane Ike on the Texan coast and the current demands on flight services from Houston this does not look likely.

"We've been advised that the students are taking the evacuation very much in their stride."

More than a million people in Texas have been advised to leave their homes before Ike hits late on Friday night.

The students were selected from 3,000 young people involved in a programme which encourages students to follow careers in science, engineering and technology.

During their 10-day tour of Nasa's Johnson Space Center the sixth-year pupils from schools across Scotland were touring the historic mission control that was used during the Apollo space flights.

They have been working with astronauts and scientists in a mixture of lectures, workshops, group tasks and assignments.