ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A church group from St. Petersburg is hoping to be evacuated from Israel on Tuesday.
Thirty-four people touring the Holy Land with the GT Church of St. Petersburg were visiting historic sites when Israel and the U.S. attacked Iran. It wasn’t long after that when Iran started launching missiles into Israel.
The pastor leading the group, Dr. Randy Helms, says the group was at the River Jordan for a baptismal event with sirens blaring, and the group quickly made their way to a hotel in Tiberias with a bomb shelter.
“About 15 different times, the sirens have blasted and we’ve had to hunker down in bomb shelters until the all clear is given,” said Helms. “We’ve been working feverishly from that moment until now to get our group out of Israel.”
Helms said he has been in touch with the State Department and the St. Petersburg Mayor’s Office has reached out to offer assistance. He said members of his group have stayed very calm during the ordeal.
“Never for a moment did I have a sense of fear or anxiety,” Helms said. “My heart was set, our people have been fantastic. It’s hard to believe, because you know people, but I haven’t heard one little whisper of a complaint or murmuring at all, and we’ve just been determined working to get ourselves back home.”
Helms said he has been in touch with the group, Grey Bull Rescue, and hopes his group will be evacuated some time Tuesday morning. But he said he needed to limit details of the rescue for security purposes.