State Department: U.S. Working To Save Abducted Missionaries In Haiti

State Department spokesperson Ned Price said U.S. embassy staff in Haiti are working with authorities to get the 17 missionary workers home safely.

American officials, including the FBI, are working with Haitian authorities to try and secure the release of 17 members of a U.S.-based missionary group who were abducted by a violent gang.

12 adults and five children connected with the Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries disappeared Saturday while on a trip to visit an orphanage near Port-au-Prince.

It was the largest reported kidnapping of its kind in recent years. Haitian gangs have grown more brazen amid ongoing political instability, a deepening economic crisis and a spike in violence that is driving more people to flee the country.