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    U.S. Special Operations service members respond to elementary school hit by landslide, four children dead

    Haitian firefighters look for survivors

    Courtesy Photo | Members of the local Haitian fire department work with U.S. Special Operations service...... read more read more

    CAP-HAITIEN, HAITI

    02.15.2010

    Story by 2nd Lt. Victoria Brayton 

    Special Operations Command South

    CAP-HAITIEN, Haiti—Four children are dead after a landslide hit an elementary school in Cap-Haitien around noon, Feb. 15.

    Members of the Nepalese police force working for the United Nations secured the scene at the Petite Ecole Francaise school while seven members from the Joint Forces Special Operations Component Command operating out of Cap-Haitien worked to pull the children out from under the rubble, according to one of the U.S. Special Operations service members who responded to the scene.

    The team worked with members of a Haitian fire department and doctors from a non-governmental organization who also responded to the incident.

    After recovering the first child, another landslide complicated efforts to reach the others, said the U.S. Special Operations member.

    Four hours after responding to the scene, all of the bodies were recovered, and school administrators said all the children were accounted for. The four children were seated along the back wall of the school at the time of the incident.

    The two-story school stood at the foot of a tall mountain in the northern city of Cap-Haitien. Both floors were crushed by the landslide, and a large boulder sat on all the rubble, according to U.S. service members.

    The city has been experiencing heavy rain for the past two days. Members of U.S. Special Operations Civil Affairs teams continue to work with NGOs, U.N. representatives and the government of Haiti to assist citizens following the Jan. 12 earthquake.

    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 02.15.2010
    Date Posted: 02.16.2010 09:50
    Story ID: 45414
    Location: CAP-HAITIEN, HT

    Web Views: 890
    Downloads: 835

    PUBLIC DOMAIN