US airline briefly suspends flights to Haiti’s capital after UN helicopter hit by gunfire

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Not less than one U.S. airline on Friday briefly canceled flights to Haiti’s capital after gang members opened fireplace and hit a U.N. helicopter flying close to the nation’s principal airport.

Spirit Airways stated in a press release to The Related Press that its day by day flight from Fort Lauderdale to Port-au-Prince has been suspended by means of Sunday.

“The protection of our visitors and staff members is a precedence,” the Florida-based airline stated, including that it was intently monitoring the scenario.

The announcement comes a day after a U.N. helicopter was hit by gunfire, forcing it to make an emergency touchdown in Port-au-Prince shortly after it had departed the principle airport.

The U.N. Humanitarian Air Service helicopter, which was carrying three crew members and 15 passengers, landed safely, in keeping with the World Meals Program.

The taking pictures comes as gang violence surges throughout Haiti’s capital and past in current days, elevating issues {that a} U.N.-backed mission led by Kenyan police is struggling to comprise the violence. Hundreds of individuals have been killed or injured this yr, and greater than 700,000 have been left homeless lately on account of the continued gang violence.

“There’s rather a lot that must be finished to present hope,” Leslie Voltaire, president of Haiti’s transitional presidential council, stated at a press convention on Friday. “I’m not happy. Proper now there aren’t any outcomes. We should always do extra to enhance individuals’s lives.”

U.S. and Haitian officers together with Voltaire have stated the Kenyan mission lacks personnel and funding and have requested that or not it’s changed by a U.N. peacekeeping mission.

Earlier this yr, coordinated gang assaults pressured the federal government to shut Haiti’s principal worldwide airport for almost three months.

___

Related Press reporter Evens Sanon contributed from Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

____

Comply with AP’s protection of Latin America and the Caribbean at