US hospital ship Comfort leaving Haiti as military scales back in quake-ravaged country

US hospital ship Comfort leaving Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The U.S. military hospital ship Comfort has completed its relief mission in Haiti and is heading home.

The Comfort has been stationed off the country’s coast for seven weeks treating victims of the Jan. 12 earthquake.

But the U.S. military is scaling back in Haiti and it’s time for the ship to head back to its homeport. A military spokesman says the comfort will leave Wednesday and be back in Baltimore on March 14. While in Haiti, the ship’s personnel treated more than 800 patients.

The total number of U.S. forces in Haiti is expected to drop to about 8,000 in coming days, down from a peak of around 20,000 on Feb. 1.