UPDATE 3-Two Canadian aid agency workers kidnapped outside hostel in Ghana

Two Canadian women working for an aid agency were kidnapped outside a hostel in Ghana's second city of Kumasi on Tuesday, police said.

The women, aged 19 and 20, were volunteers for Youth Challenge International, officers added. Earlier, a police statement had said the women were taken from the city's Royal Golf Club, but regional police spokesman Godwin Ahianyo later clarified that the two were seized from a hostel where they were staying next to the club.

Canada's foreign ministry said it had informed the women's families and was working with local authorities. Kidnappings were rare in Ghana until a spate of abductions, most of them for ransom, late last year. They are more common in other parts of West Africa

An Indian national was kidnapped and rescued in Kumasi last month, local media reported. 

(With inputs from agencies.)