Jakarta Globe – AFP, Apr 03, 2014
A police boat is seen in Semporna, Sabah, in Malaysian Borneo in this file photo. (rifqy/https://www.flickr.com/photos/rifqy/) |
Kuala
Lumpur. Gunmen have abducted a Chinese tourist and a Filipino worker from a
dive resort on Malaysia’s Borneo island, a report said Thursday, at a time of
heightened tensions between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing over missing Flight MH370.
The
incident also adds to growing concerns about security in that part of the
island after last year’s bloody armed assault by Islamic guerillas from the
southern Philippines. The two women were taken at around 10:30 p.m. local time
Wednesday from the Singamata Reef Resort in eastern Sabah state after it was
raided by up to six gunmen, according to The Star newspaper.
Gao Huayun,
29, from Shanghai, who was holidaying with about 60 other tourists from China,
is believed to have been abducted from her room and forced into a boat, the
report said.
The
40-year-old Filipino resort worker was not named and it is unclear how she was
taken.
The paper
said the women were discovered missing after the resort, which is built on
stilts near the town of Semporna, ordered a roll call as police arrived minutes
after the gunmen had fled.
Resort
staff could not immediately be reached for further comment, while Sabah police
chief Hamza Taib said he was on his way to Semporna and would have more details
later.
The Chinese
consulate on Borneo was unavailable to comment.
It comes as
relations between Malaysia and China are fraught over the search for Malaysia
Airlines Flight MH370, which went missing last month with 239 people aboard,
mostly Chinese. The aircraft has yet to be found, and Chinese families have
accused Malaysia of mishandling the tragedy.
The eastern
part of Sabah — whose pristine dive sites are a top tourist attraction — has
seen several kidnappings despite increased security. More than 200 heavily
armed followers of a self-proclaimed Philippine sultan landed in Sabah in
February last year, claiming it for their leader.
Dozens were
left dead after a nearly month-long standoff as Malaysian armed forces moved in
to clear out the guerrillas.
In 2000,
armed Philippine gunmen took 21 hostages at the internationally renowned scuba
diving destination of Sipadan island, including 10 tourists from Europe and the
Middle East.
Agence France-Presse
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