A summer trip to China resulted in quarantine for students from South Florida. (Facebook.com / June 13, 2009)

Nine South Florida high school students have hit the streets of Beijing again after a weeklong quarantine in a Chinese hotel, according to one of their fathers.

Chinese officials released the group around 11:30 a.m. Monday in Beijing, which is 12 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time. Officials feared they had come in contact with someone on their flight who carried the H1N1 swine flu virus.

“They’re on the road again. They’re happy,” said Freddy Aquino, who spoke to his 17-year-old son, Malcolm Aquino, of Plantation, after his release.

After the students were detained last week, they coped with days of boredom and heat in a hotel where the air conditioning was turned off to prevent any germs from circulating. But they had fun, too, said Darien Morrison, 16, a student at College Academy at Broward College.

“It’s really not bad at all. Parents make it seem like it’s horrible,” Morrison wrote, adding the students were given pizza, DVDs, Internet access and large water guns to play with.

By Alexia Campbell, Juan Ortega and Missy Diaz.
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