For more than two weeks, the Lynn University community has held out hope that the four missing students and two faculty members in Haiti might be found.
But now it appears they are waiving the white flag.
In a press conference Wednesday, Lynn University President Kevin M. Ross announced it might be time for the school and the families to face the harsh reality they will never see their loved ones again.
"We had waited for good news, hoped for a miracle - prayed for a different outcome. But it is apparently not to be," he said. "And it is time for us now to grieve, and to begin to heal."
The school at 14 people in Haiti on Jan. 12 when the earthquake struck. The group was part of a "Journey of Hope" program that arrived just a day before the 7.0 earthquake hit the capital city. The students were there to feed the poor and help with literacy and other educational programs.
Eight were rescued from the Hotel Montana in Port-au-Prince where the group was last seen.
The missing students are Christine Gianacaci of Hopewell, N.J., Stephanie Crispinelli of Katonah, N.Y., Britney Gengel of Rutland, Mass. and Courtney Hayes of Boca Raton. The missing professors are Dr. Patrick Hartwick and Dr. Richard Bruno.
Local
Students held prayer vigils and several parents took to the media to keep hope alive that their children were still surviving among the ruins of the city.
But rescue efforts near the hotel have turned up nothing but dead bodies in the rubble and throughout the city, news of survivors are dwindling. The shift on the island is turning from rescue to clean up.
"Though we have determined that now is the time to grieve and begin to heal, we also know that our healing will not be complete without the return of the remains of all six of our missing to their families," Ross said. "Theirs was a journey of hope. Theirs - a selfless commitment to serving others...Today begins a new phase in our journey."
