A British man stranded abroad fears his wife and unborn baby will die because he claims the British Embassy is refusing to help his family get to hospital.
Desperate Tom Shelton's Philippino wife Annie is eight months pregnant with his first baby and will need a C-section as their unborn son is in the breech position.
But the couple, who have been running a guesthouse in El Nido, in the Philippines for the last two years, are now a six-hour drive away from their nearest hospital because of restrictions enforced to stop the spread of Covid-19.
Tom, 43, from Consett, Durham, says the British Embassy won't help because his wife is not a British citizen.
He claims they have offered to support the family once the baby - who will be British - is born but Tom fears by then it could be too late.
The struggling family are now living in a hut to save money and depending on neighbours for food after the spread of coronavirus destroyed their livelihood.
"My baby could die because of the lockdown," Tom said.
"Annie is due on April 17 but could go into labour at any time, especially with all the stress of the situation.
"The baby is feet first and its head could get stuck if she ends up giving birth at home with no assistance. My baby and my wife's lives are at risk and yet no one will help me."
Tom says the medical emergency could have been avoided if the Home Office had accepted his past applications to bring his wife and her seven-year-old son Dandan to the UK.
The former plasterer and builder has spent £10,000 trying to bring his family home but was refused because the Home Office feared Tom did not have the financial means to support them in the UK.
Tom blasted the British Embassy for not intervening until the baby was born.
"We are in a medical crisis where our baby is at stake," Tom fumed. "Am I not British enough?"
Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged all Brits abroad to come home when he announced the current restrictions to try and halt the spread of the virus.
Flights have been stopped all around the world and now Tom and Annie, 32, fear they've been abandoned.
Roadblocks in El-Nido are in place, and even though the couple has been granted police clearance and had planned to hire a car, now public transport and car hire shops are closed and no taxis or van drivers are willing to take them on the long journey to hospital.
That means Annie will have to risk giving birth at home with just Tom to help her because no midwives are located nearby.
"This is beyond stressful," he said. "It is life or death and I am so scared.
"Our last ultrasound scan showed our baby is in the breech position and so Annie will need to go to a specialist birthing clinic or hospital in Puerto Princesa city.
"It's a six hour drive - the equivalent of driving from Newcastle to Calais, but we have no way to get there.
"Annie is becoming increasingly uncomfortable as she gets nearer to the birth and we are scraping by for food and water - her health is at serious risk.'
The pair - who met in 2013 while Tom was travelling in Asia - had been running their own holiday business, Banana Grove Backpackers Inn, El Nido, before the spread of coronavirus destroyed their income.
Tom added: "We had enough to pay for the safe delivery of our baby and the birth and the care of Annie during the final month of pregnancy and beyond.
"But now we have no means to pay for any of it."
Tom's sister, Nancy Jaffray, 50, has launched a GoFundMe page to help her brother, which has already inspired more than £4,000 in donations.
She said: "I am in pieces. I just can't begin to imagine how they are coping. I will move mountains to see this have a happy ending and not see this end in tragedy.
"We hoped the embassy would step in but they won't - despite the fact she is carrying an unborn British citizen.
"Everything where they live is gone. Normal life has been suspended and there is nobody to take them to hospital.
"My brother feels completely abandoned. His wife and baby could die and Annie is so so scared."
Tom has thanked Brits back home who have supported the crowdfunding page.
He added: "If it wasn't for the generosity of family, friends and sympathetic strangers, we would certainly have no ability to continue life as a family.
"But the funds from the appeal will take at least another 10 days to arrive by which time it could be too late.
"Right now we are surviving on food donations from our neighbours."
A spokesman for the Foreign Office said they are in contact with the family and the local authorities in El Nido.
