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• Jan 11, 2006 8:18 pm US/Eastern
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  Charter Flight Leaves Liberians Stranded

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Charter Flight Leaves Liberians Stranded

LINTHICUM, Md. (WJZ/AP) ― It's still not clear why their charter plane never showed up, but some Liberian nationals who planned to fly home from Baltimore for the inauguration of their new president will probably miss the celebration.

More than 100 travelers paid 16-hundred dollars a piece for the flight to Liberia's capital, Monrovia. The flight was chartered through Africa-Us Friendship and Economic Development Group Executive Alex St. James, who tells Eyewitness News the group didn't meet pre-payment requirements.

"I'm not responsible for this debacle! [They] never secured enough funds for the prepayment of the aircraft and so as a consequence the airplane didn't fly," St. James tellsWJZ's Kathryn Brown in a telephone interview.

Adelaide Gardiner, a Liberian woman who booked the charter flight, says the complete opposite. "I trusted him. He told me in spite of not having a full plane that his company would make sure the plane would fly," Gardiner tells Eyewitness News.

The Liberian Embassy says many of the travelers won't be able to find another flight before Monday's inauguration of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.

(© 2005 CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Information from The Baltimore Sun.)