missionaries and their families reportedly was kidnapped by gang members in Haiti on Saturday as they were leaving an orphanage, just days after a team of U.S.

Seventeen people, including some children, were abducted near the capital of Port-au-Prince while on a bus headed to the airport, according to the Center for Analysis and Research in Human Rights in Port-au-Prince, which monitors kidnappings. A voice message sent to multiple religious groups by Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries said some of its group were on their way home from building the orphanage.

“Pray that the gang members will come to repentance.”.

The Post said the missionaries were abducted by a powerful gang known as 400 Mawozo.

Gédéon Jean, director of research center, told the Post that authorities said the captives included 16 Americans and one Canadian citizen. Kidnappings have been on the rise in Haiti, with gangs demanding ransoms that in some cases exceed $1 million.

The National Association of Owners and Drivers of Haiti called a nationwide strike for Monday to denounce increasing security breakdowns in the country, particularly acts of violence targeting transport workers. GardaWorld Corporation, a Canadian private security firm that operates in Haiti, said the strike could prompt rallies across the nation.

Historians: Border Patrol agent's treatment of Haitian migrants recalls slavery-era whippings.

Haitians trying to flee the battered country have found a mixed reaction from President Joe Biden's administration, which has struggled to respond to the arrival of thousands of Haitian migrants at the U.S.

special envoy for Haiti, Daniel Foote, resigned his post last month over what he called the Biden administration's "inhumane" decision to repatriate thousands of Haitian migrants seeking asylum in the U.S