40 Members of S.C. Church Evacuated From Israel After Airstrikes, Pastor Says

Forty members of Calvary Chapel Summerville returned to the United States after being stranded in Israel for nearly a week when airstrikes closed Israeli airspace, the pastor said.

The group landed in Israel on Feb. 20 for an eight-day trip and was scheduled to fly home on Feb. 28, Pastor Vic Carroll said. They arrived at the airport three hours before their flight when the U.S. and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran, prompting the closure of airspace and forcing the group to evacuate the terminal, Carroll said.

Carroll said the group sheltered in place and moved in and out of bomb shelters for several days. He said he weighed whether to keep the group in Israel or take a bus to Jordan to try to catch a flight home. “We ultimately, you know, made the decision between what was bad and what was worse. I thought the worst would be to stay,” Carroll said.

Carroll said bus passengers were instructed that if a siren sounded while on the road, the vehicle would pull over and everyone would need to lie face down on the ground for at least 10 minutes until the threat passed. That did not happen, and the group reached an airport in Jordan and boarded a flight out of the Middle East on Thursday morning, Carroll said. The group returned to the U.S. Thursday night, landing at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, Melanie Carroll, the pastor’s wife, said in a text message. “We are so thankful!!!!! It’s surreal!!” she wrote.

The unexpected extension increased costs, Melanie Carroll said, and she launched a GoFundMe saying the return would cost “upwards of $2,500 per person.” The group raised its $100,000 goal in less than three days, she said. Nearly 24,000 Americans have returned to the U.S. after fleeing the Middle East since Operation Epic Fury began last week, the State Department said.

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