53 Haitian orphans arrive in Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- Fifty-three Haitian orphans arrived in Pittsburgh Tuesday and were taken to an area hospital, officials said.

The children were carried or accompanied off an airplane and taken by Catholic Charities volunteers onto buses that ferried them to Children's Hospital in Lawrenceville, Pa., the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.

The orphans, mostly infants and toddlers, were rescued in response to a call issued by sisters Jamie and Ali McMutrie of Ben Avon, Pa., who told authorities that the devastating earthquake had endangered the lives of 130 children they had been caring for at the BRESMA orphanage in Port-Au-Prince.

Accompanying teams from several Western Pennsylvania medical facilities on the flight from Haiti were Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire, D-Pa., the newspaper said.

Other Haitian orphans were being evacuated from the earthquake ravaged country as well, CNN reported. More flights from Haiti to Florida were scheduled Tuesday, with officials at Orlando Sanford International Airport telling the U.S. broadcaster they expected arrivals over the next two weeks.