11:20am: United Methodist News Service is reporting that Sam Dixon is out of the rubble.
(UMNS) Two United Methodist mission leaders have been rescued from the rubble of the Montana Hotel, and workers are close to extracting a third church leader pinned under a concrete beam after the massive earthquake rocked Haiti Jan. 12.
The Rev. Sam Dixon, top executive of the United Methodist Committee on Relief, was taken out of the debris Friday morning, said Bishop Bruce Ough, president of the Board of Global Ministries. The Rev. Clinton Rabb, head of Mission Volunteers, was responding to rescue workers.
“They had to get Sam out in order to get to Clint, as I understand it,” reported Tom Hazelwood, an executive with the United Methodist Committee on Relief. He said rescue workers were able to get fluids into Dixon and Rabb, and both were talking.
9:15am: Sam Dixon is alive after being found after 55 hours under the rubble of the Hotel Montana in Haiti, according to messages on the “Haiti Earthquake Hotel Montana” Facebook page around midnight and early Friday morning (1/15). News reports confirmed this Friday morning.
Sam Dixon, Clint Rabb, Jim Gulley were found by a French rescue team. Jim was seen on news programs Friday morning, confirming earlier information. Sam is reported to have some leg/ankle injuries. Updates Friday morning are that Sam and Clint have been receiving medical treatment but remain under rubble. The rescue team is being very cautious in the removal process.
Dixon, a clergy member of the NC Conference, is director of the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), Rabb heads Mission Volunteers for the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries (GBGM) and Gulley is a former missionary who currently is a consultant to UMCOR. They were in Haiti as part of a mission trip with the Church of Haiti. Offices for UMCOR and GBGM are in New York.
North Carolina Conference members on a Mission to Haiti team in Haiti have landed at Fort Dix in New Jersey. The information was confirmed by Dr. Alan Swartz , pastor of Horne Memorial UMC in Clayton and pastor to several team members, after talking with team member Helen Little. The 56 members of the full team had waited at the Port-au-Prince airport for 12 hours in the sun on Thursday, following US Embassy directions. When it was evident a flight out of Haiti on Thursday was not possible, they returned to their camp near the airport. Early Friday morning, they learned that a flight was possible and returned to the airport. Specific plans for returning to North Carolina were not available when this update was written.
Please keep Sam, his colleagues, and the Mission to Haiti team in your prayers.
Further updates will be added as available.