源 稿 窗
在文章中双击或划词查词典
字号 +
字号 -
折叠显示
全文显示
The United States said Wednesday it is evacuating more Americans from Haiti as the impoverished Caribbean country is consumed with violence.
The U.S. chartered helicopters to take its citizens from the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, which has been largely overtaken by armed gangs, to the neighboring Dominican Republic, State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said.
Haiti and the Dominican Republic each occupy half of the island of Hispaniola.
"We do expect these helicopter movements to make multiple trips in order to try and get as many American citizens as we can today," Patel told reporters.
He did not disclose the timing of the evacuation flights or the number of Americans expected to leave Haiti, citing concerns about operational security.
The State Department will evaluate later whether to send more helicopters in the coming days, he said.
Patel said U.S. government personnel will offer consular services to the Americans arriving in the Dominican Republic's capital, Santo Domingo, but they then will need to arrange their own travel back to the United States, Patel said.
The U.S. carried out another evacuation operation on Sunday when it flew 30 citizens to Florida on a chartered plane from the northern Haitian city of Cap-Haitien, which has been comparatively unscathed by gang violence.
Much of Haiti in recent weeks has descended into virtual anarchy after years of intersecting political, security and health crises.
The United States joined Caribbean leaders last week in pushing through a plan that will see the prime minister replaced by a transitional council ahead of the expected arrival of a Kenya-led security force.
Some material in this report came from Agence France-Presse.
The Voice of America provides news and information in more than 40 languages to an estimated weekly audience of over 326 million people. Stories with the VOA News byline are the work of multiple VOA journalists and may contain information from wire service reports.