Two North American hostages captured at gunpoint last month by a notorious Haitian criminal gang have been released it was announced on Sunday. 

Details of the release were disclosed by Christian Aid Ministries, the Ohio-based organisation which sponsored the visit.

Founded in 1981, the group has been carrying out projects on behalf of behalf of Amish, Mennonite, and other conservative Anabaptist groups.

The hostages were among 17 American and Canadian missionaries who were abducted as they made their way home from a project building an orphanage.

The identities of those released and the circumstances under which they were freed were not disclosed.

“We have learned that two of the hostages in Haiti were released,” Christian Aid Ministries said in a statement.

“We praise God for this! Only limited information can be provided, but we are able to report that the two hostages who were released are safe, in good spirits, and being cared for.”

It is believed the group responsible for the abduction was the “400 Mawozo”, a gang which controls the area of the country between Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital, and the border with the Dominican Republican.

The gang, one of 90 roaming the poverty-stricken country,  is notorious for kidnaps and extortion in a country where law and order has broken down, especially since the murder of the country’s president, Jovenel Moise in July.

In April the gang snatched a dozen hostages from another religious group. A French priest and nun were released after a ransom was paid.

It is unclear whether a ransom has been paid on this occasion.

Kidnapping, which has been endemic in Haiti, has been on the increase this year with at least 328 cases reported in the first eight months of 2021, compared with 234 for all of 2020.