Chinese tourist, Filipino resort worker abducted in Sabah

KOTA KINABALU:A group of armed men abducted a Chinese tourist and a Filipino resort worker from Pulau Singamata in Semporna near here on Wednesday.
Gao Huayuan, 29, from Shanghai, and Marcy Dayawan, 40, were taken in the raid by what is believed to be a group of six gunmen at 10.30pm.
In Perth, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak said Malaysia has contacted Philippine authorities over efforts to locate the two.
He regarded the abduction as serious and had ordered all the relevant enforcement agencies to look into the case immediately.
“Our priority is to ensure the safety of the hostages,” Najib told Malaysian journalists shortly after a joint press conference with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on the search for MH370.
Najib did not rule out the probability that some quarters wanted to tarnish the relations between Malaysia and China as the abduction coincided with the missing MH370.
Eastern Sabah Security Command (EssCom) director-general Datuk Mohammad Mentek, in a statement, said that he was leaving it to police to conduct investigations and provide a full report.
Meanwhile, China pressed Malaysia to rescue Gao and Marcy, adding that staff had been sent to the site.
“We have asked local police to make an all-out rescue effort while ensuring the security of Chinese citizens and taking effective measures to safeguard the security of Chinese tourists,” foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters.
He said China would follow the incident closely.
The Philippines embassy in Kuala Lumpur, in a statement, said its police attache at the mission had alerted Philippine police in nearby areas in case the kidnappers and the hostages were headed their way.
Philippine authorities, especially the national police maritime units and anti-kidnapping officers, are liaising with their Malaysian counterparts in working towards a speedy resolution of the case.