According to Christian Aid Ministries, seventeen missionaries, including 16 Americans and one Canadian, were abducted while visiting an orphanage in Haiti.

According to a statement issued by the Ohio-based charity on Sunday, the group consists of five men, seven women, and five children.

The missionaries, who have been deployed to market the religion, or "to spread the word of god," had been abducted while on a trip to visit an orphanage on Saturday, October 16, an Ohio-based Christian Ministry said in a statement released on Sunday.

According to the Haitian Police  400 Mawozo gang is suspected to be behind the Kidnappings. The gang has been involved in several kidnappings in the past. 

Haiti has one of the world's highest rates of abduction.

According to a local civil society organization, this year, in particular, has been especially bad, with more than 600 kidnappings documented in the first three quarters of 2021, compared to 231 in the same time last year.

The surge follows the death of President Jovenel Mose in July, as competing factions struggle for control of the country in the face of a failing police force.

According to Gedeon Jean, head of the Center for Analysis and Research in Human Rights in Port-au-Prince, the 400 Mawozo gang was responsible for the great majority of kidnappings.

According to Haitian police inspector Frantz Champagne, the gang was also responsible for the kidnapping of the missionary group - 16 US nationals and one Canadian - on Saturday. According to the news agency AFP, an unknown number of locals were also detained.