12:15am UK, Thursday January 21, 2010

Roddy Mansfield and Huw Borland,
Sky News Online

An 11-year-old girl has been pulled out alive from the rubble of Haiti’s earthquake, it has been reported.

The youngster was rescued by neighbours in the capital Port-au-Prince eight days after the quake struck.

Earlier, a 12-year-old girl and her seven-year-old brother were also found alive.

Meanwhile, America is sending an extra 4,000 US troops to Haiti – as a French aid group accuses the US of severely delaying doctors trying to help survivors.

It has been more than a week since a 7.0 magnitude tremor killed and injured tens of thousands of people and left hundreds of thousands dependent on emergency aid.

The new soldiers will boost international efforts to help the huge numbers Haitians who are still scrambling for food, water and medical care.

But, despite the latest deployment, one of France’s main humanitarian organisations claimed the US was mishandling aid operations in the Caribbean country.

US soldiers unload aid supplies in Port-au-Prince

Medecins sans Frontieres‘ Francoise Saulnier said days had been lost because the main airport in capital city Port-au-Prince, now under American control, was blocked by military traffic.

She said: “We lost three days. And these three days have created a massive problem with infection, with gangrene, with amputations that are needed now, while we could have really spared this to those people.”

The aid group alleged that five planes carrying 85 tonnes of drugs and surgical supplies have been turned away from the capital since Sunday night.

“The urgent and vital attention to the people has been delayed (for) military logistics, which is useful but not on day three, not on day four, but maybe on day eight,” Ms Saulnier added.

Meanwhile, Haiti has been hit by another quake measuring 6.1 in magnitude.

Haitians reach for a food during an UN aid distribution

The tremor was strong enough to send crowds running into the streets in terror, though there were no reports of further injuries.

US scientists monitoring the region said the shock’s epicentre was 35 miles south-west of Port-au-Prince and six miles underground.

New high-resolution images revealing the destruction from the earlier quake have also been released.

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Sky’s chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay travelled to the dangerous slum of Solidad to watch one failed aid drop.

He was told Haiti could be hit with food riots by the end of the week.

Between 100,000 and 200,000 people are believed to have died from the January 12 quake.

The United Nations said the security situation remained “stable” with only sporadic outbreaks of looting and violence.

Musicians Coldplay, Bono and Sting are among a galaxy of stars lined up for a global Hope For Haiti telethon this week.

It is due to air commercial-free across a series of networks including MTV, VH1, CNN and HBO at 1am GMT on Saturday.