Iceland offers to assist in evacuating foreign nationals from Haiti

The Icelandic Ministry for Foreign Affairs has offered to assist in evacuating foreign nationals from Haiti with plane which is leaving the capital, Port-au-Prince, tonight, 13 January, at 18:30 local time. The plane was chartered to deploy a 37 man-strong Icelandic Search and Rescue Team for Haiti, following the devastating earthquake which hit on 12 January.

The offer has been extended to all foreign embassies in Iceland, within the United Nations and the European Union. Authorities in the United States, Sweden and Denmark have already accepted the offer for their nationals but the deadline to do so expires tonight at 18:00 local time, 23:00 GMT.

There will be a stopover in Nassau, Bahamas, before the plane heads to Iceland.