Hospital director in Haiti says gang stormed in and took hundreds hostage

The Fontaine Hospital Centre is in Port-au-Prince (Odelyn Joseph/AP)

A heavily armed gang has burst into a hospital in Haiti and taken hundreds of women, children and newborns hostage, according to the director of the medical centre who pleaded for help via social media.

Jose Ulysse, founder and director of the Fontaine Hospital Centre in the sprawling Cite Soleil slum in the capital of Port-au-Prince, confirmed the incident in a brief message exchange with the Associated Press.