Signs on the door of the Christian Aid Ministries give updates on the Haiti kidnapping and show that the offices are closed in Millersburg, Ohio.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti--Ransom money was raised to pay for the release of a group of Canadian and American missionaries kidnapped in Haiti, but a dozen of them escaped captivity on their own, the United States (US) based Christian ministry group which organised their trip to the Caribbean country said on Monday.
“Other people who sought to help us provided funds to pay a ransom and allow the negotiation process to continue,” Director of Christian Aid Ministries David Troyer said during a news conference at the group’s Millersburg, Ohio, headquarters.
“After many days of waiting and no action on the part of the kidnappers, God worked in a miraculous way to enable the hostages to escape,” Troyer said.
The missionaries, who were abducted in October by a gang known as 400 Mawozo after visiting an orphanage, originally numbered 17 people.
Two hostages were freed in late November and three were released earlier this month.
On Thursday, Haitian police said that the final dozen hostages had been found by authorities on a mountain called Morne à Cabrit. The mountain is about 37 kilometres south of the capital Port-Au-Prince.
A spokesman for the missionary group, Weston Showalter, told the news conference in Millersburg that the last 12 hostages had plotted their escape and eventually walked miles to a point of safety where they could contact authorities.
“They were finally free,” he said.
The ordeal has brought global attention to the Caribbean country’s growing problem of gang abductions. ~ Reuters ~
