Missionaries kidnapped in Haiti recount remarkable escape

Twelve missionaries who were kidnapped in Haiti managed to flee on their own, according to their US-based church.

According to a church official, the group fled at night and relied on the stars for direction as they trekked through deep wilderness for hours.

After being kept captive since October, Christian Aid Ministries announced last week that the group had been released.

The group who kidnapped them had wanted a ransom of $1 million per captive.

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After visiting an orphanage, 17 missionaries and their families were kidnapped in total. A total of five people had already been released.

Their story drew international attention to Haiti’s escalating gang kidnapping problem.

“When they sensed the timing was right, they found a way to open the door that was closed and blocked, filed silently to the path they [had] chosen to follow and left the place that they were held,” church spokesman Weston Showalter said at a news conference in Ohio.

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Using stars to guide them, the gang walked in the direction of a mountain they had seen days before, evading “numerous guards.”

A married couple, a 10-month-old baby, and children aged three, fourteen, and fifteen made up the group. Four adult guys and two adult women were also present.

Mr Showalter claimed they travelled through “woods and thickets, working through thorns and briars.”

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He described how the entire party, including the children, kept silent throughout the ordeal, and how the infant was covered in garments to keep her safe from the thorny briars.

“Two hours were through fierce brambles. We were in gang territory the whole hike,” he said, quoting one of the escapees.

Around dawn, they came across someone with a phone who assisted them in contacting authorities.

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According to Christian Aid Ministries, the missionaries were later taken back to Florida on a US Coast Guard flight. The vast majority of them have since returned to their families.

At the time of their release, police spokesman Gary Desrosiers told the AFP news agency that the group, known as 400 Mazowo, had been negotiating with authorities for weeks.

Two members of the group were released in November, and three more in early December, but their identities have remained unknown.

It’s not clear if a ransom was paid.

According to the church, the gang provided the missionaries with food and clean drinking water, as well as baby formula for the infant. However, the washing water was tainted, causing skin ulcers around mosquito bites in some of the escapees.

Mr. Showalter refuted allegations that the group’s driver was a Haitian native. He stated that the driver was a Canadian and that he is now free as well.

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“The hostages spoke to the gang leader on several occasions, boldly reminding him of God and warning him of God’s eventual judgement if he and the gang members continue in their gangs,” Mr Showalter said, adding that the group kept a 24-hour prayer vigil while held captive.

Kidnapping is one of the key ways in which the 400 Mazowo criminal organisation makes money.

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Its militants kidnapped a group of Catholic clergymen in April, and it’s unknown whether a ransom was paid.

Kidnappings are at an all-time high in Haiti, as powerful gangs take advantage of the uncontrolled situation to profit from ransom payments.

With roughly 800 kidnappings reported by the end of October, this year has been exceptionally awful.

The rise follows the killing of President Jovenel Mose in July, as opposing factions vie for control of the country against a failing police force.