Kidnapped Haiti missionaries describe their daring escape; used stars for navigation

After being held captive for several weeks, 12 missionaries managed to escape on their own after they were abducted in Haiti, said their US-based church. The group got away at night and used stars for navigation to trek through the dense bush for several hours, said a church spokesperson in a news briefing, as reported by BBC. Christian Aid Ministries announced that the entire group was finally free last week after they were held captive in Haiti in October. The Haiti gang had kidnapped US missionaries and demanded a ransom of US $1 million per hostage. 

In total, 17 missionaries along with their families were abducted after they had visited an orphanage. While five others were released previously, the remaining 12 escaped on their own as the kidnappings brought global attention to Haiti’s growing problem of gang abduction.

How did the missionaries escape?

US-based church’s spokesperson Weston Showalter said at a news conference in Ohio that when the missionaries thought the time was right, they managed to open the door that was closed and even blocked. They silently followed the path which they chose and left the place where they were held hostage. Then, the 12 of them evaded “numerous guards” and travelled in the direction of a mountain which they had spotted days earlier. All this while, they used constellations to guide them. 

The group, which included a married couple, a 10-month old baby; and children aged three, 14 and 15; four adult men and two women, then travelled through “woods and thickets, working through thorns and briars,” said that spokesperson. 

Showalter reportedly also explained how the entire group remained silent during the ordeal while the infant was wrapped in clothing for protection from briars. Quoting one of the escapees, the church spokesperson said, “Two hours were through fierce brambles. We were in gang territory the whole hike.”

Around dawn, they found a person with a phone and then called the authorities. The 12 missionaries were then flown back to Florida on a United States Coast Guard flight, said Christian Aid Ministries. Most of them were reunited with their families. The group of 17, including children, were abducted on 16 October shortly after visiting an orphanage in Ganthier, in the Croix-des-Bouquets area. While 16 were American, one of them was Canadian. 

(IMAGE: AP)