US evacuates first American citizens from Port-au-Prince as Haiti crisis deepens

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The U.S. evacuated more than a dozen American citizens from Haiti on Wednesday with a helicopter flight to the capital of the Dominican Republic.

The government-chartered helicopter left the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince with 15 U.S. citizens, the State Department said.

The helicopter landed in Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic, where U.S. government personnel were present to provide consular assistance.

This marked the first of a series of planned helicopter flights from Port-au-Prince to Santo Domingo, following U.S. efforts earlier this week to transport 30 Americans from the Haitian city of Cap-Haïtien – which is further north and relatively safer – to Miami International Airport.

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The State Department is aiming to evacuate more than 30 U.S. citizens from Haiti each day when it charters government-organized helicopter flights.

"We will continue to monitor demand from U.S. citizens for assistance in departing Haiti on a real-time basis. The overall security situation, availability and reliability of commercial transportation, and U.S. citizen demand will all influence the duration of this departure assistance," a State Department spokesperson said. "We will also continue to explore operating out of