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Image copyright Reuters Image caption Alicia Cubbage, the head of US Catholic aid agency Catholic Relief Services, met the missionaries at a compound in Port-au-Prince
Two US missionaries who were kidnapped in Haiti earlier this week have been released unharmed, their employers have said.
“A missionary couple from Tulsa, Oklahoma, are being held in Haiti, and there is nothing more to share at this time,” said a spokeswoman for their aid group.
The couple, William McClelland and Jo Ann Corliss, were kidnapped along with eight other Haitian workers on Sunday evening.
A North Carolina-based charity operated their compound.
Several members of the organisation have already returned to the US, according to Catholic Relief Services (CRS), the American aid agency they work for.
CRS head Alicia Cubbage told reporters the kidnappers had contacted the agency asking to meet the missionaries and was planning to kill them.
She added that a team of American and French diplomats working with the Haitian authorities had been negotiating a number of demands from the kidnappers.
“The US and French are still negotiating with the kidnappers. It’s a desperate, desperate situation in Haiti today,” Ms Cubbage said.
A joint media statement issued by CRS and Catholic Relief Services added that there were no details about the demands.
“CRS is an organisation committed to human dignity and to all who ask for help. We are pleased to report that the kidnappers have agreed to release William and Jo Ann,” said CRS head Cubbage.
They added that the couple were being kept at a compound in Port-au-Prince where other missionaries and staff had returned to the compound on Sunday.
It is not yet clear why the kidnapping occurred.
The Huffington Post reported that the kidnapping could have been linked to an unusually high profile hunger strike by some missionaries on the anniversary of two previous church abductions.