Jun 10, 2009 11:29 pm US/Eastern
South Florida Students Quarantined In China
BEIJING, CHINA (CBS4) ―
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The teens took pictures with their I-phones showing Chinese health authorities in creepy-looking suits doing mandatory health checks twice a day.
CBS4 News
When 13-year-old Randell, 18-year-old Elizabeth and 15-year-old Bryan Doane boarded a plane for China, they were excited and ready to explore a new world. But that dream was dashed as soon as they made it to Beijing. Elizabeth placed a frantic phone call to her mother.
"Got a call, crying call from my daughter at two in the morning basically saying, 'we are quarantined, we have been plucked out of the middle of Beijing, in the middle of a tour and thrust into an ambulance with sirens going, face masks on and put into this hotel.'"
Rebecca Doane is anxious for their return. Her kids, along with six other South Florida high school students and a teacher, have been placed on lockdown since Tuesday morning, because they sat near a man, who is now known to have H1N1, on their flight to China.
"Get hopefully the Chinese government to understand that these children are healthy, they should be allowed to be released," said Doane.
The teens took pictures with their I-phones. They show Chinese health authorities in creepy-looking suits doing mandatory health checks twice a day. Elizabeth wrote about the ordeal in an email to her mom.
She wrote, "With police men and government officials standing guard 24/7, with our windows locked so that we can't escape, and with new people arriving every hour, all I know is I can't wait to get home. Back to the USA, where we are free, where we have rights, where you can discharge yourself from a hospital, and where you are not kept in prison for no apparent reason."
Meredith Banka, Vice President of Program Marketing for People to People Ambassador Programs says they have an official on the ground in Beijing, and the teens are safe. She said, "All of the students are in the best of care and our number one priority is guaranteeing their safety."
Doane won't rest until her children are back home in South Florida. "I'm worried. I'd like for them to get out as soon as possible."
Doane says the student travel group believes the teens will be held at least until June 15, and possibly longer.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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