The US government is in contact with the authorities in Haiti following the abduction of missionaries from the US and Canada.
You are working with them and cross-agency partners, said a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry on Sunday evening.
The ministry confirmed that 16 US citizens and one person from Canada were abducted on Saturday in the region of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince.
"The well-being and safety of US citizens abroad is a top priority for the State Department," it said.
The aid organization Christian Aid Ministries had previously stated that twelve adults and five children had been kidnapped by criminals.
According to a report on television station CNN, the group was on their way from an orphanage in Croix des Bouquets on the eastern edge of Port-au-Prince to Titanyen, north of the Haitian capital, when they were abducted by members of an armed gang.
According to the Washington Post, one of the abductees wrote a cry for help on a WhatsApp group.
“Please pray for us !!
We're being held hostage, they kidnapped our driver.
Pray, pray, pray.
We don't know where they're taking us, ”was the message.
Haiti, the poorest country on the American continent, has been plagued by political chaos and criminal violence for years.
At the beginning of July, President Jovenel Moïse was shot in his residence, the background remains unclear to this day.
The gang mischief scares residents and visitors alike.
The region where the missionaries were abducted is controlled by gang 400 Mawozo, reported the newspaper "Le Nouvelliste", citing police circles.
The gang abducted ten priests, nuns and family members of a clergyman in April.
The abductees were later released.