2 women home safe after being trapped in Israel
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) - UPDATE 10:00 p.m. Two members of a religious group from Pocatello who have been trapped in Israel made it home Friday.
Linda Larsen was at the airport Friday evening when their flight landed.
It was very emotional as the two Pocatello moms were hugged by their families who, for awhile, didn't know if they would ever see their moms again.
There were hugs and tears.
"I was happy. I was so happy when we finally hit Denver, and we're like, 'God, we're finally in America," Sandra Ortiz said. "It was just, I don't know how to explain it."
Local News 8 was at the airport Friday night when the plane landed carrying two members of a 13 member church group home from their tour to the Holy Land.
"How does it feel to be home?" Linda Larsen asked.
"It feels great. And I'm glad to be home," Rita Collins said. "We were pretty frightened, and especially we could hear the the missiles and the sound of that."
The group of 13 people from St. Anthony's Church was able to have four days of sight seeing before the unexpected attack on Israel.
"But we were all excited to be in there on that day," Rita Collins said. "But then we found out the noise that we were hearing. We heard, we heard the the bop, the sound of the bombs, and we heard from the news that it was only nine and a half miles away from where we were."
"I'm scared," Ortiz said. "I mean, I was scared. I wanted to get home to my family, and it was just uncertainty what was going on there and what was going what was really going on."
Then terrifying news from their tour group they were on their own to get out.
"But just getting out of there, I got to leave it to my friend here. See? See, she gets out, set that up. And then I just followed her. I just trusted her," Ortiz said about Collins.
After a daring trip to Tel Aviv, both were able to get a flight out to Dubai and eventually the United States.
They say their faith helped them get through the ordeal.
"We were going to the Holy Land, and we were going to go experience where Jesus with, you know, jesus, where he was born, where he walked for, he caught where he shared. And it was a beautiful experience. And I think for me, that's what keeps me going, is my spirituality and my belief, you know, that we're going to get out of there," Ortiz said.
"One thing we did do as a group is we prayed every day, and we went to mass and we went to mass every day," Ortiz added. "And I did the rosary every day."
They both said while they are grateful for the experience of visiting the Holy Land, they will never go back.
"I wouldn't go back there, and I wouldn't advise somebody else to go back there because that war has been going on for thousands of years," Ortiz said. "And I didn't know that, you know, I didn't understand the history of it.''
"Would I go back there? No, that was my dream," Ortiz continued. "That was my lifetime dream was to go to the Holy Land, do the pilgrimage. Yes, it was sad, but we had to know we missed three days of the pilgrimage. But we've seen quite a bit."
The two say they won't be at peace until the rest of their group returns home. Some of them are in contact with us and tell us that flights have been arranged. For now the other families are praying their loved ones will also make it home safe.
The other members of the group are all out of Israel.
11 members of the group and 21 members of another catholic group are together waiting for flights in Jordan.
The group was able to walk across the border hours after officials announced it would be closing.
They tell us their hotel staff and travel agent were able to arrange a flight from Jordan to JFK Airport in New York.
They are all hoping to be back in the US this weekend.
We will continue to follow this story and will pass along more information as we get it.
UPDATE 5:30 p.m. Moments ago, the plane carrying two members of the Israel tour group that was stranded near the war zone earlier this week has landed in Idaho.
The remaining 11 members of the group along with another catholic group of 21 are waiting together for flights out of Jordan.
ORIGINAL: A local church group from Pocatello trapped in the Middle East has made their way from Israel to Jordan.
You have seen this story on only Local News 8.
It began days ago when a church member from St. Anthony's Chapel in Pocatello reached out in desperation.
As of Friday night, we know 11 members of the group and 21 members of another catholic group are together waiting for flights in Jordan.
The group was able to walk across the border hours after officials announced it would be closing.
They tell us their hotel staff and travel agent were able to arrange a flight from Jordan to JFK Airport in New York.
We are continuing to follow the story and will pass along more information as we get it.
