UK rescuers end search for Haiti earthquake survivors

   The Rapid-UK group spent a week searching for survivors of the quake

A team of British rescuers is returning from earthquake-hit Haiti after spending a week searching through the rubble for survivors.

Members of Gloucestershire-based rescue agency Rapid-UK said they had done all they could to find survivors of the 7.0-magnitude quake.

They said it would be an "absolute miracle" if anyone else were found alive among the ruined buildings.

Rescuer Anthony Thomas, from Devon, said: "It's time for us to go home."

The Rapid-UK team ended its mission in Haiti with a fruitless search of a collapsed school where around 100 children remain missing.

Mr Thomas, 47, who lives in Bovey Tracey, said: "We have done our job. It will be pretty much an absolute miracle to find anybody else alive.

"It's time for the relief teams to take over."

The nine volunteers picked their way over the remains of the school on the outskirts of the capital Port-au-Prince with search dogs on Thursday.

The building catered for 400 children, around 300 of whom have been accounted for since the quake struck on 12 January.

Mr Thomas said no signs of life had been detected under the rubble.

The painter and decorator said: "It was a job that needed to be done, but it is a few days too late.

"We should have gone to the school a few days ago, but we didn't know about it."

The Rapid-UK team worked alongside British and Haitian firefighters during their stay.

While working with a Haitian team, they helped to rescue a severely-injured police officer from a collapsed building.

Overseas workers have saved 130 people from debris left by the disaster.

Rescuer Simon Thomasson, 41, a telecoms engineer from Farnborough in Hampshire, said the mood among rescuers was "pretty sombre because of all the devastation we have witnessed".

He said: "But I think we have done all we can. Someone probably will be found after the rescue teams have left, but the likelihood is very slim.

"We have got to get out the way so the aid agencies can go in."

Also heading home is a group of around 60 UK firefighting personnel who have been helping the rescue effort.

The earthquake's death toll so far is estimated at 200,000, with around two million thought to be homeless.

One Briton is confirmed dead in the disaster, with another still missing.

United Nations worker Frederick Wooldridge, 41, from Kent, was the first Briton to die, along with dozens of his colleagues.

UN worker Ann Barnes, 59 and originally from Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, remains missing.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/

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