The 17, believed to be Spanish divers, would have to fend for themselves on the small sand bank of Pedro Cays as any rescue attempt was now too late, said Captain Havland Honnigan, chairman of the Fishermen Co-Operative in the town St Elizabeth.

Jamaica was bracing for the arrival of the category 4 hurricane due to make landfall here later Sunday, and already lashing the island with driving rains.

"It would be impossible for any rescue operation to take place now," said Honnigan.

"They were advised by the Jamaica Coast Guard on Thursday morning to leave the Cays, and they refused," he said, clearly upset that there were still people on Pedro Cays, which lies some 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Jamaica.

During Hurricane Ivan, which struck Jamaica in 2004 killing 2004, some 35 people had managed to survive on Pedro Cays.

But its location put it on Sunday almost directly in the eye of Hurricane Dean. Honnigan said he believed those people who had refused to evacuate "should be arrested and charged."