Medics and relief workers flew from Bermuda to earthquake-stricken Haiti yesterday, bringing cash and medical supplies.

The charity flight is the first the Island has sent to the Caribbean country since it was devastated by a 7-magnitude quake on January 12.

It's hoped the team of doctors [EmDash] Christopher Johnson, Stanley James and Alicia Stovell-Washington will be able to perform up to 150 life-saving operations over the next ten days.

They were joined five nurses and EMTs and Philip Rego, a Bermudian charity worker with links to two orphanages and a medical clinic in Haiti.

Charter company Longtail Aviation provided a Falcon 900 aircraft which was equipped with supplies for a travelling operating theatre. It was piloted by Mark Byrne, chairman of Flagstone Re, with Marty Amick, head of flight operations at Longtail, as his co-pilot.

The whirlwind mission left Bermuda at 11 a.m., stopped in Haiti for half an hour to drop the supplies and personnel, and was back home by 5 p.m.

Mr. Amick said: have to say it was a very emotional experience to stand in the back of that plane handing out boxes to upturned hands and expectant faces. There was a large number of people to receive the equipment and help to quickly unload it. I felt very fortunate that we were able to help.

[JUMP]The people were obviously very happy to see the supplies we were bringing."

The plane landed in Cap Haitien in the north of the country and the relief workers then embarked on the arduous five to nine hour journey by road to the capital Port-au-Prince, at the heart of the quake zone. Up to 200,000 are feared dead, with 1.5 million injured.

The mission was organised by Lois Wilson, one of the founders of C-Travel, who wanted to assist Mr. Rego get to Haiti.

"He was feeling stressed because many of his children had relatives killed and they were about to run out of food and medicine," she explained. The whole mission took just five days to get off the ground from her initial approach to Longtail on Tuesday.

"It was really quite a miracle and a powerful story of Bermuda residents pooling their resources," she said.

Flagstone Reinsurance paid for the flight and contributed $10,000. Capital G bank donated a further $10,000 and Bank of Butterfield contributed $5,000. Phoenix drugstores contributed thousands of dollars worth of medical supplies. BGA also donated medical supplies, and their CEO John Tomlinson travelled with the relief party. Other contributors were Masters UK Ltd, GlaxoSmithKlein Caribbean, Apotex and Lawtons Canada.

Mr. Amick said damage was visible in Cap Haitien, even though the north of Haiti escaped the worst of the quake.

"One thing that made the flight challenging was that the runway we were using had split and we only had half the runway available. There was a two foot difference in height between one half and the other, but fortunately the aircraft could handle it," he explained.

Mr. Byrne, who hopes a second aid flight will be possible soon, added "It was a very interesting experience for everyone. It was clear Haiti's needs are not just short-term. This is going to take years."