Six days since American nurse Alix Dorsainvil and her daughter were kidnapped from the community ministry where she works in Haiti, information about their capture and whereabouts remains unclear as the aid group works with authorities and partners in the United States and Haiti to secure their freedom, it said.

 

The effort comes amid waves of crimes and unrest across Haiti, with more than 1,000 people taken hostage for ransom there this year, according to United Nations figures.

 

“Many people are laboring for their return, but currently we cannot share more specific details,” Christian humanitarian organization El Roi Haiti said Monday in a statement about Dorsainvil and her child. “We are so thankful for all of the support that has been shown. Please continue to pray with us for the protection and freedom of Alix and her daughter.”

 

Dorsainvil, the wife of El Roi Haiti Director Sandro Dorsainvil, and their child reportedly were abducted Thursday morning while serving at their community ministry on El Roi Haiti’s campus near the capital city Port-au-Prince, according to a statement from the non-profit. It’s not clear how old their child is.

 

The kidnapping – including a man pulling out a gun – unfolded in view of a patient waiting for a medical checkup, they told the Associated Press.

 

“When I saw the gun, I was so scared,” Lormina Louima told the AP. “I said, ‘I don’t want to see this, let me go.’”

 

The same day, the US State Department ordered the departure of nonemergency government personnel from Haiti as the security situation in the country deteriorates. The order followed a travel advisory from the US Embassy in Haiti advising US nationals to leave immediately due to recent armed clashes between criminal groups and police in Port-au-Prince.

 

Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas have been gripped by a yearslong kidnapping-for-profit epidemic, with hundreds of Haitians targeted by gangs seeking ransom payments each year.