Kidnapped Chinese, Filipino rescued in Malaysia

PM Najib Razak says that ransom was not paid to secure their release.

KUALA LUMPUR: A Chinese tourist and a Filipino worker have been rescued nearly two months after they were abducted from a Malaysian dive resort, Prime Minister Najib Razak said.

The two women namely Gao Huayun, 29, from China and Marcy Dayawan, 40, from the Philippines were kidnapped from the Singamata Reef Resort in Malaysia's Sabah state on April 2, in a late-night raid by gunmen and taken to the southern Philippines.

Najib said the women were brought back to Malaysia after being rescued, stressing that no ransom had been paid to secure their release.

"Success due to cooperation of Malaysia and Philippines security forces," Najib said on Twitter late Friday, adding Malaysia would help Gao return home "as soon as possible".

Najib is currently in China on a five-day visit aimed at boosting bilateral ties. China had urged Malaysia to secure Gao's safe return.

Another Chinese national, a 34-year-old fish farm manager, was kidnapped early this month by gunmen along the same coastline.

China-Malaysia relations have already been tested over the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 that vanished on March 8, with 239 people aboard -- two-thirds of them Chinese.

Chinese relatives of passengers have harshly accused Malaysian authorities of ineptitude and a cover-up.

The plane is believed to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean but a massive international search has failed to find any sign of wreckage so far.

The Philippine military has said the Abu Sayyaf, a small band of Islamic militants infamous for kidnappings for ransom, are the prime suspects in the kidnapping of Gao and Dayawan.

Abu Sayyaf has been blamed for the kidnapping of 21 people, including several foreign tourists, from another Sabah diving resort in 2000.

Twenty of those hostages were released within five months, reportedly after hefty ransoms were paid. A Filipino captive was held until 2003.