Newsman: Sixteen American in a missionary group of nineteen including five children were abducted in Haiti on Saturday. Both the US embassy and the Haitian presidential office confirmed the occurrence to the international news media. It is unclear where the victims were taken. The Embassy is working with a special group of Americans in the country who are investigating.
The Haitian government suspects the gang known as 400 Mawozo to be responsible for the abductions, according to the source quoted by ABC News , NBC and CNN news.
The group is 17 missionaries — 16 Americans and one Canadian — and two Haitian citizens, according to the U.S. Embassy. Two French priests were also kidnapped in a separate attack at the same location earlier in the day, the source said.
The Ohio-based ministry Christian Aid Ministries confirmed in a statement that a group of 17 people were “abducted” while on a trip to an orphanage on Saturday. Five men, seven women and five children are among the group, according to the ministry.
“We request urgent prayer for the group of Christian Aid Ministries workers who were abducted while on a trip to visit an orphanage on Saturday, October 16,” the statement read Sunday. “We are seeking God’s direction for a resolution, and authorities are seeking ways to help.
Haitian police inspector Frantz Champagne told The Associated Press that the 400 Mawozo gang kidnapped the group while they were in Ganthier, about 17 miles east of Port Au Prince.
The gang has also been blamed for kidnapping five priests and two nuns earlier this year, according to The AP. The country is experiencing a rise in gang-related kidnappings, many demanding ransom, that quelled after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse on July and a 7.2-magnitude earthquake on Aug. 14 that killed more than 2,200 people.
Abduction were in Haiti The kidnapping occurred during an airport run at the at a checkpoint which is the intersection of “Carrefour Boen” and “La Tremblay 17.”
The U.S. State Department is aware of the reports of the kidnapping, a spokesperson told media reporters.
“The welfare and safety of U.S. citizens abroad is one of the highest priorities of the Department of State,” the statement read.
