MANILA, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- Four Filipino crew members of a fishing boat were declared missing, and believed abducted, off Celebes Sea in Sulu on Tuesday morning, the military's Western Mindanao Command reported Wednesday.
Wesmincom spokesman Maj. Filemon Tan said military units have been already alerted to search the missing victims, including the boat's captain, the marine diesel mechanic and two crew members.
Tan said the boat made its last radio contact with a sister boat around 3 a.m. local time Tuesday, and when the latter one proceeded to the signal location at around 5 a.m. they found all crew members missing, with the VHF Radio/GPS stolen, while other belongings are intact.
Tan said the military's Joint Task Force Sulu has deployed forces "to conduct search" while the Naval Task Group Sulu "was instructed to initiate appropriate action," referring to interdiction operations.
The four victims were possibly abducted, he added. Asked if terrorist group Abu Sayyaf was behind the feared kidnapping, the official said: "As to the group that took them, we are still validating."
The Abu Sayyaf is still keeping around 20 foreign and Filipino kidnap victims in Sulu. The military has intensified its operations against the group in July in line with President Duterte's thrust to end the Abu Sayyaf problem during his term.
