As many as 17 US Christian missionaries and their families, including children, were on Saturday kidnapped by gang members in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, US media reported.
The Washington Post reported that an audio message from the Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries said the “men, women and children” associated with the group were being held by an armed gang.
The missionaries were on their way home from building an orphanage, the one-minute message said.
“This is a special prayer alert,” it said. “Pray that the gang members will come to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.”
The message said that the mission’s field director is working with the US embassy in Haiti, and that the field director’s family and one other unidentified man stayed at the ministry’s base while everyone else visited the orphanage.
No other details were immediately available.
Those kidnapped included 14 adults and three minors, CNN said, citing an unnamed source in Haiti’s security forces.
They were traveling to Titanyen after visiting the orphanage in the Croix des Bouquets area, CNN said.
Citing local officials, the New York Times said the missionaries were taken from a bus that was headed to the airport to drop off some members of the group before continuing on to another destination in Haiti.
The US Department of State is aware of the reports, a spokesperson said, but did not offer details.
“The welfare and safety of US citizens abroad is one of the highest priorities of the Department of State,” the spokesperson wrote in an e-mail.
The US embassy in Haiti did not respond to a request for comment outside business hours.
A spokeswoman for the Haitian police said she was seeking information on the issue.
Christian Aid Ministries did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A surge in gang violence has displaced thousands and hampered economic activity in the poorest country in the Americas. Violence spiraled after the assassination of Haitian president Jovenel Moise in July and an earthquake in August that killed more than 2,000 people.
Additional reporting by AP
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