A B.C. father says a private U.S. company has offered to fly his son and 16 other high school students home from Haiti at a cost of $100,000 if the Canadian government can't transport them out in the next day or so.
Norm Ouellet says he and other parents are so desperate to get their children home they are willing to pay the cost.
"We are putting that plan in place and getting the ball rolling should our government not come through," Ouellet said.
The students arrived in Haiti for a mission trip from South Slocan, B.C, just 45 minute before Tuesday's earthquake struck. They were scheduled to be in Haiti for two weeks working on a variety of service projects, including constructing a well and doing work on a goat farm.
On Friday, school superintendent Pat Dooley said B.C.'s solicitor general informed her that United Nations' military helicopters were preparing to rescue the group, but there's no word on when that would happen.
Meanwhile, Ouellet says a pastor who is travelling with the group managed to email him to say the kids slept in a field Friday night instead of in a tin-roofed structure because they fear another quake is coming.
"There's looting going on, there's death, injuries. That's a concern. We're concerned about the emotional state of our kids," Oullet said.
He says other Canadians have joined the students, including two couples with their three- and seven-month-old babies and that a school secretary with the group needs medical attention for broken ribs.
With files from The Canadian Press
