Church agency: Captive missionaries made daring escape

(AP) — Captive missionaries successful Haiti recovered state past week by making a daring overnight escape, eluding their kidnappers and walking for miles implicit difficult, moonlit terrain with an babe and different children successful tow, according to the bureau they enactment for, officials said Monday.

The radical of 12 navigated by stars to scope information aft a two-month kidnapping ordeal, officials with the Christian Aid Ministries, the Ohio-based bureau that the captive missionaries enactment for, said Monday astatine a property conference.

The elaborate accounting of their travel to information comes aft quality Thursday that the missionaries were free.

A full of 17 radical from the missionary radical — 12 adults and 5 minors — were abducted Oct. 16 soon aft visiting an orphanage successful Ganthier, successful the Croix-des-Bouquets area, wherever they verified it had received assistance from CAM and played with the children, CAM has said. The radical included 16 Americans and 1 Canadian.

Their captors from the 400 Mawozo pack initially demanded millions of dollars successful ransom. Five different captives had earlier reached freedom. It is inactive unclear if immoderate ransom was paid.

The 12 who fled past week carried the babe and 3-year-old, wrapping the babe to support her from the briars and brambles, said CAM spokesperson Weston Showalter.

“After a fig of hours of walking, time began to dawn and they yet recovered idiosyncratic who helped to marque a telephone telephone for help,” helium said, his dependable opening to choke. “They were yet free.”

The 12 were flown to Florida connected a U.S. Coast Guard flight, and aboriginal reunited with 5 hostages who were released earlier.

CAM displayed photos astatine the quality conferences showing the freed hostages being reunited, on with a video of the radical singing a opus that had inspired them during their captivity.