Andy Hawthorne witnesses misery and miracles in Haiti

Andy Hawthorne, director of The Message Trust, returned on Monday from a humanitarian trip to Haiti where he delivered 1,000kg of medical supplies to depleted hospitals.

Hawthorne told of "apocalyptic scenes of heartbreak and hope" in the quake ravaged country, where it is feared the final death toll may hit 300,000.

The medical supplies were delivered to an emergency surgical unit set up in ruined capital Port-au-Prince and a destroyed hospital on the island of La Gonave, where the hospital is struggling to cope with the surge of people from the mainland.

"We had to transport two young people with broken backs in a flat back truck over roads ripped apart by the quake. One of them, paralysed when his house fell on him, was carried to us on a door by his friends," said Hawthorne.

He was accompanied on the trip by Lemon Aid worker and Manchester church leader Anthony Delaney. One of the better equipped hospitals they visited in Port-au-Prince was filled with 2,000 patients.

"It was unbelievable, but we were amazed to see medics from many nations and languages working together brilliantly to help the injured and distressed," said Hawthorne.

Mr Hawthorne and Mr Delaney also visited a church leader at the epicentre of the quake at Leogane.

"It was heartrending to see the pastor standing in the rubble of the school and church he had built," said Hawthorne. "He had lost many pupils and close family."

The pair witnessed bodies of victims being pulled from the rubble and taken to a mass grave where 700 had already brought.

"It was an apocalyptic scene, like a Hollywood disaster movie, you can't imagine what these people are going through, but help is getting through and we must help the survivors rebuild a better life," he said.

The medical supplies included tetanus vaccines and antibiotics, which are in short supply as a result of the number of injured. It is estimated that some three million people are in need of aid.

Justin Dowds, a pharmacist with Lemon Aid who also joined the trip, said he was shocked to find shelves empty of antibiotics and other vital medicines at the hospital in La Gonave.

"We got there just in time to save some lives, but we will have to come back from the UK again next week or this will be an even greater tragedy," he said.

The team evacuated a nine-year-old girl who had been buried for three days who had to have half her foot amputated. Her other foot was badly crushed.

Hawthorne said: "As we flew on a small missionary plane back to the mainland we were praying that amid the chaos we could find an orthopaedic surgeon. When we landed the first people we saw was a group waiting to fly out. They were an orthopaedic team. We have to say that along with the misery, we saw miracles."