CALGARY - Parents and staff of B.C. high school children trapped in quake-ravaged Haiti are anxiously waiting to hear when the group will be evacuated.
A group of 17 students and seven adults arrived in Haiti just 45 minutes before the 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck on Tuesday.
What was supposed to be a mission trip helping at a farm outside of Port-au-Prince has turned into a cry for help for the group from Mount Sentinel high school in South Slocan, B.C., about 650 km from Calgary.
The group is staying at the Haiti Arise Mission outside Port-au-Prince.
Pat Dooley, superintendent for Kootenay Lake school district, said the Canadian government has told them the group will need to be airlifted to the capital by military helicopter.
But they have yet to receive a timeline for rescue.
"This is a step, but it still hasn't given us complete confidence," she said.
"We're not going to rest until those kids are on Canadian soil."
Dooley received an e-mail update from the group in Haiti yesterday afternoon.
"It says things are not good and it reinforces our need to get them out of there," she said.
The group is sleeping outside because they're fearful of further building collapses.
Norm Ouellet's son Blake is among the group.
"It's extremely difficult -- I don't think any of us would have slept last night," he said yesterday.
"These are kids and the stuff that they're witnessing right now ... the longer they're there, obviously the more it's going to impact their lives forever."
One staff member suffered a broken rib but no one else in the group was injured.
James Roberts of Haiti Arise Canada said food and water supplies are running low.
tarina.white@sunmedia.ca
