DENVER—Jim Gulley met five colleagues in the lobby of the Hotel Montana in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, about 5 p.m. Tuesday.
“There was a tremble and I said, ‘I think this is an earthquake,'” said Gulley, 64, a United Methodist mission worker who lives in Frisco.
WHUMP! The ceiling fell on them, pitching them into total darkness. Only a desk kept the concrete beams and slabs from flattening them into the floor.
“It was three seconds, not one and not seven, but three seconds and our entire world changed,” said Gulley, who was hit in the head and ankle.
“Five of us were trapped in a 6- by-8-foot space only 3 feet high. It was totally black and very dusty, but that desk saved our lives,” he said.
Gulley relived his terror Friday night after arriving at Denver International Airport, bandaged around his head and his hands. He was surrounded by family and friends but managed to share his memories.
Gulley was one of two Coloradans found alive in what remained of the Hotel Montana after being buried for more than two days, but at least one Coloradan remained missing Friday night in the wake of this week’s deadly earthquake.
Dan Woolley, 39, a Web site specialist from Colorado Springs working for Compassion International, suffered only minor scrapes after being buried in the same rubble for 60 hours, his wife told The Gazette.
But David Hames of Colorado Springs, who was in the lobby with Woolley when the earthquake struck, was still missing Friday night.
“Soon one man yelled, ‘My legs are broken,’ ” Gulley remembered. “Another yelled, ‘So are mine.’ They were in a lot of pain. We hollered for our friend, who heard us and said she was nearby, that her ribs were hurting.
“It was absolutely still, completely silent and totally dark. The only light we had was from our cell phones.
“When I turned mine on, I could see I was bleeding from my head. We had no water, but I had a bottle of Aleve, which we began to pass around over time.
“Soon we heard Dan Woolley, from Colorado Springs, tapping on the wall. We yelled to him. There was a Haitian man with him who was hurt.
“We began watching the hours go by: 1 . . . 2 . . . 3. That’s when we worried how long we would have air.
“We prayed out loud, then sang, and talked. I figured the roads were ruined. But we heard a big helicopter fly over; it must have been from the U.N. Then another. Then nothing.”
They spent the night terrified, squirming on the dust and plaster, never getting comfortable and beginning to get very thirsty.
“Around 7 the next morning, we heard a Haitian man. We yelled to him in French. He said he couldn’t see us but that he would return. He never did.
“We spent a very long day the next day with nothing, then a second night. We couldn’t stand. The ground was covered with pebbles and stones from the plaster. It was very uncomfortable.”
More than 36 hours after being trapped, they began to hear an occasional stone being moved. But nothing came their way.
Thursday afternoon, their female friend began moving around, in complete darkness, trying to find any place she could crawl to.
Soon she found a window, but she had no idea what was on the other side, or how far down the ground was, if it was ground. She got trapped, unable to move in her weakened condition.
“About 30 minutes after that, we heard voices and saw a light. I screamed out at them.
“They called back: ‘We are French firefighters. We are here to take you out,'” Gulley said, suddenly overwhelmed by emotion and tears in the DIA lobby.
“They were very methodical. It took them four hours to reach us, cutting through walls and concrete. By 11 p.m. Thursday, they pulled us through holes no bigger than my chest.”
The two whose legs were pinned, Sam Dixon and Clinton Rabb, were still trapped when Gulley was freed.
Gulley and others were taken to a U.S. AID medical tent about 3 a.m. Friday, then to a MASH unit at the U.S. Embassy, which survived the earthquake. He was evacuated to Miami, then purchased a ticket on an American Airlines flight to Denver.
His son Aaron said while waiting for the flight that the family’s phone has been ringing with calls from India, Spain, the U.K., Africa, all around the world from friends Gulley has made during his lifetime of helping impoverished countries develop agricultural programs.
Two friends from Senegal drove from Gulley’s home in Frisco to greet him at DIA.
Back in Haiti, Hames, 40, a contract worker for Compassion International, remained unaccounted for Friday night. He owns Red Balloon, a video-production company in Colorado Springs. He has a wife and two children, ages 3 and 5.
He put his business on hold last year to develop a Christian-themed preschool show.
“I believe I was led by God to start the children’s project,” he told The Gazette at the time.
Compassion International chief executive and president Wess Stafford told The Gazette on Friday that 40 of 75 staff members and contract workers in Haiti have been located.
Woolley’s wife, Christy, and their two young sons left for Miami on Friday to be reunited with her husband.
