A team of about 20 aid workers was stranded at a Florida Air Force base last night — after the military refused to fly them and their medical supplies to earthquake-ravaged Haiti, one of their members said.
“The Air Force has withdrawn their promise to transport us,” said Bill Dienstag, a doctor at Beth Israel Hospital, who had been waiting at Homestead Air Force Base in Miami for about 15 hours when he got the news.
“We have all this equipment and have no way of leaving,” he said.
Dienstag, 39, works with Gascov-Clerge and said the group already has people on the ground, providing assistance and waiting on the new supplies.
A spokeswoman for the Air Force said there was a miscommunication and that the group is expected to depart soon.
“Because the aid group had not coordinated with US Southern Command prior to arriving at Homestead Air Reserve Base, the Air Force had no authority to put the group on a flight,” the Air Force said in a statement. “The Air Force receives taskings through US Southern Command to fly USAID-approved aid groups to Haiti.”