12 Remaining Kidnapped Missionaries Hatch Daring Plan To Escape Captors In Haiti

The remaining 12 of the 17 missionaries who were abducted in Haiti have escaped their captors after hatching a daring plan.

Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries (CAM) held a press conference Monday and described the ruse the missionaries pulled off on Dec. 15.

"Nudged" by God, the missionaries reportedly worked together quietly and carefully. They put on their shoes and packed water in their clothes. Despite the doors being blocked and guarded, the group slipped out of the room and chose to head toward a mountain in the distance, reported USA Today.

"When they sensed the timing was right, they found a way to open the door that was closed and blocked, filed silently to the path they [had] chosen to follow and left the place that they were held," Weston Showalter, church spokesperson, said during the conference.

The group made its way through briars and brambles. Adults and children in the party, including an infant wrapped in clothing, remained quiet throughout the journey.

"Two hours were through fierce brambles. We were in gang territory the whole hike," Showalter added as per BBC News.

As dawn broke across the land, the group met a passerby with a phone, who helped them call authorities.

The missionaries reunited with their families after being flown to Florida on a U.S. Coast Guard flight.

The group of 17 missionaries, including five children, was abducted by the 400 Mawozo gang on Oct. 16. The gang initially demanded a ransom of $17 million. They released two hostages on Nov. 21 and another three on Dec. 5.

On the day of the kidnapping, the group was invited to an orphanage supported by CAM.

"(They) reported it was a calm, beautiful Saturday when they gathered to pray before heading out," David Troyer, director at CAM, told USA Today. "They enjoyed their day at the orphanage."

After spending time at the venue, the group headed back to their base camp. However, they were met with a roadblock. As the group's vehicle tried to turn around, a pickup truck cut them off. Vehicles of the gang members surrounded the missionaries.

The missionaries' vehicle was made to follow the gang members to the house where they were eventually held.

Officials working with the church said they might pause missions to Haiti for now as they reevaluate safety protocols. But they will return to the country in the future to help the Haitian people.

"If we only go where it's safe we would stay at home," Troyer said.