ZAMBOANGA, Philippines—Authorities said Thursday they had failed to find two European birdwatchers in the crucial few hours after their abduction in Tawi-Tawi, and warned Islamic militants may be holding them.
Hundreds of Marines quickly joined the search for Swiss national Lorenzo Vinciguerra, 47, and Dutchman Ewold Horn, 52, who were seized by armed men on Wednesday, they said.
“There is a massive search and rescue operation right now to find the kidnappers and their captives,” regional military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Randolph Cabangbang told Agence France-Presse.
“Though as of the moment we have not pinpointed their exact location.”
Cabangbang said it remained unclear who abducted the men, but noted a spate of other kidnappings of foreigners in the south that were blamed on the Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group.
“We cannot rule out the possibility that the Abu Sayyaf is involved,” he said. “However, I must stress there are other armed groups, including pirates, who also operate in these waters.”
Cabangbang said the first 24 hours were crucial in deciding the fate of people kidnapped in the area, because this was when they were typically taken into the abductors’ rugged jungle lairs on remote islands.
“If the trail goes cold, the chances of recovering them swiftly will vanish little by little,” he said.
“If you don’t recover them in this window, at least you must be able to get an idea where they went, their general direction.”
At least 10 other foreigners have been kidnapped in the south since the middle of 2010, in what is largely a ransom business with the Islamic militants demanding huge amounts of money for their captives’ release.
Five of those kidnapped — an Australian, two Malaysian traders, an Indian married to a Filipina and a Japanese man — remain in captivity.
The Australian, 53-year-old Warren Rodwell, was abducted from his home in a southern town in December and appeared in a video made public last month in which he said his abductors were demanding $2 million for his release.
Over the past decade, dozens of foreigners and locals have been kidnapped, Some of them, including an American, were beheaded after ransoms were not paid.
Ivan Sarenas, a Filipino guide for the two wildlife enthusiasts, was also kidnapped on Wednesday, but managed to jump off a boat that was taking the abducted men away from the tiny island and swam to safety, police said.
The trio were kidnapped while on an expedition to photograph extremely rare pigeon and hornbill species, their colleagues said.
Sarenas is a member of the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines and officials with the organisation said information they had received indicated the foreigners were initially abducted by locals and not well-known militants.
“They apparently planned to sell them (hostages) to the Abu Sayyaf or the MILF,” club treasurer Michael Lu told AFP.
The 12,000-strong MILF, or Moro Islamic Liberation Front, is the country’s largest Muslim separatist rebel group but is now in peace talks with the government.
In the local kidnapping-for-ransom business, it is common for small abduction gangs to “sell” their captives to more powerful organizations such as the Abu Sayyaf.
A rotating force of 600 US troops have been stationed in the southern region of Mindanao for a decade, helping to train local soldiers how to combat the Abu Sayyaf and other Islamic militants.
But the militants have remained a threat, partly because of their ability to raise funds through kidnapping-for-ransom operations. The Abu Sayyaf is believed to have just a few hundred militants.