Port au Prince, November 16 (AP) Armed members of a gang surrounded a hospital in Haiti, trapping a large number of people including women, children and infants in the hospital, although police evacuated everyone safely.
The director of the medical center ‘Fontaine Hospital Centre’ had appealed for help through social media in view of the dire situation.
Hospital founder and director Jose Ulises said the gang members were setting fire to houses around the hospital and preventing people from going out.
He said it seemed that none of the gang members came inside the hospital.
He said Haiti’s national police force responded immediately and arrived with three armored trucks to evacuate 40 children and 70 patients. Some children who were safely evacuated from the hospital were fitted with oxygen tubes.
“The gang has been brought under control,” he said.
The National Police has not yet issued any statement in this regard. According to Ulysses, these people were members of a Brooklyn gang.
Gangs in Haiti are becoming more powerful and kidnappings and murders are increasing since the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in July 2021.
AP Shobhana
Shobhana
