US military halts Haiti victim evacuation flights

The US military has halted flights carrying Haitian earthquake victims to the United States, apparently in a dispute over medical care costs.

Captain Kevin Aandahl, spokesman for US Transportation Command, said the evacuations were temporarily suspended on Wednesday.

That was a day after Florida governor Charlie Crist asked the federal government to help pay for care.

Aandahl said today that there were “some critical cases that were recommended stateside facility care or follow-up care” and that he understood “there were some states that were unwilling to approve transportation”.

He said the military couldn’t “fly anyone without an accepting hospital on the other end”.

A spokesman for Mr Crist said that he was not aware of any hospital in Florida refusing patients.