Author Mitch Albom, volunteers airlifted out of Haiti amid government collapse: 'It's madness'
Albom, his wife and eight volunteers were serving at an orphanage when gang violence erupted in the island nation
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}When chaos and violence once again engulfed Haiti after its government collapsed, best-selling author Mitch Albom, his wife Janine and eight volunteers were faced with the daunting question of how to get home.
Amid rampant gang violence and fierce unrest, Albom and the others were airlifted from Haiti on Tuesday night in an effort spearheaded by Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., and Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla.
"Our group was ten, and we raced into this helicopter in the dead of night, because the gangs will shoot at helicopters, and you have to go at night," Albom said on "The Brian Kilmeade Show" Wednesday.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"The ten of us were shoved into this helicopter that had four seats in it. And so we were basically just a ball of people. It was right out of one of those movies, you know, go, go, go, go. And you're in, and you're up, and you're flying out."
US DEPLOYS MARINE ANTI-TERRORISM UNIT TO HAITI TO PROTECT EMBASSY
Albom and the nine other volunteers were in Port-au-Prince for his regular visit to a local orphanage run by his charity Have Faith Haiti when the current crisis broke out last week.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"[The last few days have been] crazier than even normal stuff in Haiti," Albom said. "As soon as we got down there, the gangs started breaking into prisons and releasing all the prisoners. And next thing you know, the airports were shut, the ports were shut, the roads were shut, the borders were shut, and there was no way out."
"We spent the eight days that we were kind of captive there, stocking up on food and on water, trying to get black market fuel. Because it's quite possible that, with the government gone, everything could fall into chaos there, and then you can't get anything. And so we stocked up with hopefully a month's worth of supplies. We asked people to help us on the internet, which they did."
Although not a stranger to gang violence and political unrest, Haiti's recent crisis boiled over on February 29 when then-Prime Minister Ariel Henry traveled to Kenya for aid in combating the gangs.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Since then, Herny has been unable to return to Haiti due to gangs burning police stations, attacking the main airport and raiding two of the country’s biggest prisons.
"It's madness," Albom said. "It's something that we can't imagine, and what we went through, not being able to leave, being in a country where you can't get out is something that no American has ever gone through. You go through it once and you realize that's how Haitians live all the time. And that just shouldn't be tolerated."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}On Tuesday, Henry announced he would resign, bowing to international pressure to do so amid turmoil that has overwhelmed the country.
The announcement came hours after officials, including Caribbean leaders and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, met in Jamaica for an emergency meeting to discuss Haiti’s spiraling crisis worsened by violent gangs breaking down law and order in the country.
Brazil, Canada, France, Mexico, the United Nations and the U.S. are all in discussions on how to help the multidimensional crisis in Haiti.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Albom emphasized the need for U.S. intervention to address the current conflict.
"These gangs need to be dealt with. They need outside intervention," he said. "And I know nobody has an appetite for American intervention in foreign places, but this is right off of our shores. And if that country falls, the neighboring Caribbean countries are in danger. That's what happens when there's unrest in a region. We did occupy Haiti in the early 1900s for 15 years… We wrote their constitution. We have an obligation to take care of that country and its precious children, especially the ones that we see every day."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The best-selling author added he hopes to return to Haiti and the children left behind at the orphanage run by his charity.
"I'm extraordinarily concerned for our kids. And the minute I can get back in there, I will," he said.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"My thoughts are with our kids and the other Americans who are down there, and there's plenty of other people," Albom added. "There are so many Americans down there who volunteer with orphanages, organizations, water projects. There are Canadians down there, several thousand of them that we know of. There are other foreign nationals, that are not able to get out and, and I'm sure are living in fear of what's going to happen next. And so we can't forget about them. This… doesn't end because our group was able to get out."
Albom is perhaps best known for his celebrated memoir, "Tuesdays with Morrie," as well as recently published New York Times Best-selling fiction titles, "Stranger in a Lifeboat" and "The Little Liar."
Fox News' Lawrence Richard, Peter Aitken and The Associated Press contributed to this report.