Jan 13, 2010 11:28 pm US/Eastern
Area Families Wait For Word On Students In Haiti
RUTLAND (WBZ) ―
A second agonizing night without word on their daughter in earthquake ravaged Haiti came to the Rutland home of Leonard and Cheryl Ann Gengel Wednesday.
Britney Gengel, a 19-year-old sophomore, went to the impoverished island nation Monday with 11 other students and two faculty members from
Lynn University, a small liberal arts college in in Boca Raton, Florida, to work with
Food for the Poor, a relief group.
Britney's parents in Rutland have gone without sleep since the devastating quake. Her father tells us one Lynn student texted another on the Florida campus, about 6 p.m. Tuesday, from the Hotel Montana, where the group was staying.
After one message indicating four students, including his daughter Britney, were unaccounted for, another message said we're all together. He says the college president texted back: 14, question mark, but there was no reply.
Late Wednesday afternoon, a statement from the college said, "Sadly, national news reports stating all 14 university students and faculty had been found in good condition were not correct."
Britney's father says the college has hired a group called Red 24, a global security firm, to find the students and is on the ground in Haiti. The college's statement says, "The rescue agency working for Lynn reports that evacuation helicopters left the Dominican Republic late this morning, headed to Haiti on our behalf."
State Sen. Stephen Brewer, (D) Barre, says the Gengel's asked him to speak for them. "Britney's a tough girl. She's a great kid. She's determined and we all hope and pray there'll be a fine outcome," he says.
Among the dozen Lynn students on the relief trip to Haiti is Julie Prudhomme of East Greenwich, Rhode Island whose mother Joan is also waiting. "It's beyond anything I thought I would find myself in. I cannot even tell you, when you don't know if your child is o.k. It's awful."
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