At least 82 people from the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Haiti are dead, with 49 more missing and presumed dead, making it the largest loss of life from a single incident in U.N. history, according to unofficial U.N. figures on Sunday.
As many 150 U.N. workers are still unaccounted for. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon arrived in Port-au-Prince Sunday, where he met Haitian President Rene Preval at the airport.
Before arriving in Haiti, Mr. Ban called the quake "one of the most serious crises in decades," the Associated Press reported. "For the United Nations, this is the gravest and greatest single loss in the history of our organization,'' Mr. Ban said.
Mr. Ban planned to make his way to the crushed Christopher Hotel, which had served as the U.N.'s headquarters in the country. In the debris of that building, the body of the mission's chief, Hedi Annabi, was found on Saturday, along with his deputy, Luiz Carlos da Costa and Doug Coates, the acting U.N. police commissioner in Haiti.
Edmond Molet, undersecretary general for peacekeeping operations, arrived in the country two days ago to assume control of the mission.
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