PITTSBURGH — Fifty-three Haitian orphans were expected to land in the city early today after spending days with American caretakers who used Facebook and Twitter to let the world know they were in dire need of food, water, diapers — and a plane to ferry them out of Port-au-Prince after last week's massive earthquake.

Gov. Ed Rendell, a crew of medical personnel and several congressmen also were on the U.S. Air Force flight that carried the group out of Haiti late Monday and headed for Orlando. From there, the group was to fly to Pittsburgh.

Upon arrival, the children, who are up to 4 years old, will first go to Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh to be examined by pediatricians, hospital spokesman Marc Lukasiak said. They will be placed in group homes until adoptions are finalized.

About 100 other children from their orphanage are being cared for by Dutch and French agencies.

Chad McMutrie, the brother of one of the suburban Pittsburgh women who have been caring for the children, told The Associated Press on Friday that it appeared none of the children had been hurt in the earthquake, which badly damaged their orphanage.

The children's saga played out on the Web's largest social networking sites and on blogs beginning hours after the earthquake shook the Haitian capital, destroying or damaging most buildings, killing an estimated 200,000 people and leaving 1.5 million more homeless.

Jamie McMutrie, who has been working in the BRESMA orphanage since 2006, and Alison McMutrie, who followed her older sister to Haiti about two years ago, were in their car on the way to the supermarket when the earthquake struck. They were unharmed but frantic.

Through the U.S. Embassy, the McMutries quickly got word to their family in the U.S. that they were safe. Then they went to check on the children, many of whom already had adoptive families picked out in America and awaited paperwork to leave their old lives in the Western Hemisphere's poorest country for new lives in one of the world's richest.

The orphanage was so badly damaged the sisters and the children were living in the courtyard.