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Efforts to free missionaries in Haiti continue

Efforts to win the return of 17 members of a US-based missionary group and a local driver stretched on in late October, as a violent gang demanded $1 million ransom per person.

The individuals kidnapped on Octo­ber 16 included five children age eight months to 15 years, although authorities were not clear whether the ransom demand included them, a top Haitian official said. Sixteen of the abductees are Americans, and one is Canadian.

The Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries said it would hold a day of fasting and prayer for its missionaries.