Photo: RODRIGO ABD/AP PHOTO/PICTURE ALLIANCE / Deutsche Welle
A dozen people, including eight Turkish citizens, were kidnapped by a gang on Sunday while traveling by bus from the Dominican Republic to Port-au-Prince, officials said Monday (09.06.2022).
The honorary consul of Turkey in Haiti Hugues Josue told AFP that the hostages are members of the Muslim association Ashape, which offers language courses and religious education, according to the organization’s website.
“During the kidnapping, they got off the bus they were traveling on and had time to get in touch with their organization,” said Josue. The Haitian police confirmed the kidnapping.
They were on a bus that left Santo Domingo, the capital of the neighboring Dominican Republic, with “a Dominican driver, a Haitian presenter and 09 passengers”, said Michaelle Durandis, representative of the Metro bus company.
“Between the 10 passengers, there were eight Turks and two Haitians,” Durandis explained to the Haitian radio station Vision 2000.
Turkish citizens, five men and three women between 20 and 26 years, were kidnapped east of Port-au-Prince, between the communes of Croix des Bouquets and Ganthier.
They were traveling on the bus 17 people in total, according to information from the Metro transportation company, which confirmed that the kidnapping was carried out by the powerful armed group 400 Mawozo.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Dominican Republic reported that this Monday he received the relatives of the Dominican citizen who was driving the hijacked bus, to whom he informed about the steps to follow in search of a solution to the situation and that it be as expeditious as possible.
The Dominican Foreign Ministry reiterated the recommendation to refrain from traveling to Haiti made since October 2000 to Dominicans, except for essential reasons.
jc (afp, efe)