HAITI KIDNAPPING

PORT-AU-PRINCE: Haiti’s already fragile government faces a serious new crisis after one of the island nation’s increasingly brazen criminal gangs kidnapped a large US and Canadian missionary group.

Civil rights organisations called for the immediate release of the group of 17 missionaries, family members and staff who were abducted near the capital.

One member of the group posted a call for help on WhatsApp, writing: “Please pray for us! We are being held hostage. We don’t know where they are taking us.”

There was no immediate response from the Haitian government.