State Department plans to fly Americans out of Haiti

The U.S. government is arranging a charter flight to help U.S. citizens evacuate Haiti, where armed groups have once more breached the main seaport in Port-au-Prince and police Saturday were carrying out an operation in the stronghold of a well-known gang leader who has been threatening civil war amid a wave of violent attacks.

The arrangement for the charter flight comes amid increased panic and fear after the private residence of the country’s police chief was set ablaze just hours after armed groups fired shots across the runway at the Toussaint Louverture International Airport in the direction of the police’s headquarters.

The voluntary evacuations, which are not being done by the U.S. embassy, will occur out of Cap-Haïtien’s Hugo Chavez International Airport. Unlike Haiti’s gang-ridden capital, the northern port has been relatively calm. Still, like Toussaint Louverture International Airport in the capital, Cap-Haïtien’s runway has not seen any commercial air traffic since major U.S. carriers and other international airlines suspended service to the Caribbean country March 4, citing the ongoing civil unrest. Domestic service was also suspended in Haiti after armed gangs breached the perimeter of both the national and international airports.

At least one flight, on a plane with 166 seats, was scheduled to leave Sunday, a source in Haiti confirmed to the Miami Herald.

In a post on social media, the State Department said the flight is for U.S. citizens with valid

U.S. passports. Americans are also warned that “travel to Cap-Haïtien is conducted at your own risk.”