News
- L to R: (front row - sitting) Paul Tyska, Lindsay Doran, Nikki Fantauzzi, Richard Bruno, Christine Gianacaci, Daniela Montealegre, Britney Gengel, Stephanie Crispinelli (back row - standing) Patrick Hartwick, Michael DeMatteo, Courtney Hayes, Julie Prudhomme, Thomas Schloemer and Melissa Elliott
RFH Grad Lindsay Doran Rescued From Haiti
By Eileen Moon
RUMSON - Lindsay Doran of Rumson is one of the lucky ones. The 19-year-old student at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fl. was on the second plane out of Haiti after the devastating earthquake that struck that country on Jan. 12.
The Doran family flew to Fort Lauderdale on Thursday, where they were reunited with their daughter early Friday morning.
Doran had been on a mission trip titled "Journey For Hope" with a group of 14 students and two faculty members from her university. The group had been staying at the Hotel Montana, a 5 star hotel in Port au Prince, when the earthquake hit.
Doran's father, Scott, told "The Two River Times" on Friday that his daughter said that the hotel completely collapsed within seconds of the earthquake.
Lindsay was among a group of students who were outside the hotel when it happened.
Lindsay's roommate at Lynn University, Britney Gengel, is missing, along with three other students and two faculty members who had been inside the building at the time of the collapse.
Efforts to rescue the students after the quake began immediately. The group flew out of Haiti on a 70-passenger military transport plane that had delivered emergency supplies to the island and flown to Santo Domingo, where a private jet hired by the university flew them back to Fort Lauderdale.
"They got in at 11:45 last night," Doran said Friday. "She's good. Everything's good."
They remain concerned about the four students and two faculty members who are still unaccounted for.
According to Lynn University spokesmen, rescue efforts are ongoing at the site of the hotel. The students who are still missing are: Britney Gengel, Rutland Ma., Christine Gianacaci, Hopewell, N.J. Courtney Hayes, Boca Raton, Fl. and Stephanie Crispinelli, Katonah, N.Y. The missing faculty members are Patrick Hartwick, dean of the Ross College of Education, and Richard Bruno, assistant professor in the College of Liberal Education.
According to a statement released by Lynn University Saturday morning, contractors engaged by the school have been working around the clock on the site of the hotel collapse.
Another team of contractors hired by the school was turned back at Port-au-Prince airport, but transportation has been arranged for them by charter helicopter. Family members and staff affiliated with the university are conducting searches of hospitals and rescue facilities in search of the missing members of the Journey For Hope group.
