‘Huge’ Red Cross aid convoy with field hospital heading to Haiti from Dominican Republic
By APSaturday, January 16, 2010
‘Huge’ Red Cross medical aid convoy heads to Haiti
GENEVA — The International Federation of the Red Cross says a convoy carrying a “huge amount” of aid is heading overland from the Dominican Republic to quake-struck Haiti.
The IFRC says the aid includes a 50-bed field hospital, surgical teams and an emergency telecommunications unit.
Spokesman Paul Conneally says the Norwegian, Finnish, Spanish, Danish and Japanese Red Cross workers will arrive in Port-au-Prince in six to eight hours.
He told The Associated Press by phone from Santo Domingo on Saturday that the convoy is traveling overland because “it’s not possible to fly anything into Port-au-Prince right now because the airport is completely congested.”
The IFRC, which represents national Red Cross chapters worldwide, will shortly increase its aid appeal for Haiti.
