Downing Street Comment on Haiti

We received this message from Downing Street;

"It is with great sadness that the FCO have confirmed the death of Frederick Wooldridge, a British member of the United Nations team in Haiti. The Prime Minister's thoughts are with his family and friends at this most difficult of times. The Prime Minister is hugely grateful for the work that Frederick and others were doing in the UN Stabilisation Mission: helping to build a stronger Haiti, and giving people hope where they had none. The Prime Minister's thoughts are also with the families and friends of those British Nationals whose whereabouts have yet to be confirmed.

The Prime Minister has also today sent a message of condolence to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, following the UN's confirmation of the deaths of the UN Special Representative in Haiti Hedi Annabi, his Deputy Luiz Carlos da Costa, and that of Acting Police Commissioner Doug Coates. The Prime Minister said that his thoughts were with the Secretary General and with the families and friends of those who had been tragically killed, as well as with the people of Haiti themselves.

The Prime Minister continues to follow the wider situation in Haiti closely. He spoke this morning to the British Ambassador, Stephen Fisher, on the ground. The Ambassador updated the PM on the latest developments. He confirmed that while co-ordination of aid was improving, the scale of the challenge was huge: priorities now were getting food and water to the survivors, providing rapid medical care and emergency shelter, and restoring the electricity supply. While security was a problem, there was so far no generalised breakdown of law and order. The British team remained at the forefront of the international effort, and were also working to establish contact with all British Nationals, some of whom were still unaccounted for. The Prime Minister thanked the Ambassador and his staff for their work".