Filipino engineer escapes from Libyan rebels

MANILA, Philippines — A Filipino engineer in Libya escaped from rebel captivity after gunmen forcibly entered and ransacked a house he shared with colleagues and took him away, a Philippine official said Wednesday.

The man, who was reported Monday as just missing, was taken by the rebels with them when they left the house, said Foreign Affairs Department spokesman Raul Hernandez. The man called his wife in the Philippines on Tuesday to say he was able to escape unharmed and had made his way to a friend’s house in Tripoli, Hernandez said.

Hernandez said Filipinos and other foreign workers of the British-owned First Engineering Company were staying in the house that was ransacked before dawn Monday.

In another incident, armed men posing as rebels took three vehicles parked in front of the Philippine Embassy in Tripoli.

They include two embassy cars and one owned by the World Health Organization.

There were no casualties reported.