PORT-AU-PRINCE, Oct 17 (Reuters) - As many as 17 American Christian missionaries and their families, including children, were kidnapped on Saturday by gang members in Haiti's capital of Port-au-Prince, U.S.

The kidnapping happened after the missionaries left an orphanage in the crisis-engulfed Caribbean nation, the New York Times and CNN said.

The Washington Post reported that an audio from the Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries said “men, women and children” associated with the group were being held by an armed gang.

The Times, citing local officials, said the missionaries were taken from a bus headed to the airport to drop off some members of the group before continuing to another destination in Haiti.