2 Women Are Kidnapped From a Resort in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Gunmen kidnapped a Chinese tourist and a Filipino hotel worker, both women, from a beach resort on an island off the coast of Malaysian Borneo, the Chinese and Malaysian authorities said Thursday, spurring an international manhunt.

Beijing last night 10:30 Xu, heard the gunshots, everyone immediately get on the ground to escape the scene. (WCC reporter cell phone cameras)

The abductions, which occurred late Wednesday, appeared to be the work of insurgents from the nearby islands of the southern Philippines who have been fighting the Philippine government for years, security experts said. The kidnapping risked complicating ties between China and Malaysia, already strained over the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

The women were taken from the Singamata Reef Resort, a diving and snorkeling retreat built on stilts on Singamata Island off the coast of Sabah, a state on Borneo, in eastern Malaysia.

Chinese tourists at the resort told a Chinese newspaper, The Huaxi Metropolitan Daily, that they had heard gunshots as a group of gunmen stormed the hotel, seized the victims and spirited them away on speedboats. Photos posted on the newspaper’s website and reportedly taken during the attack show guests crouching behind upturned tables. There were about 60 Chinese guests at the hotel at the time, the paper said. Click here to read more…

Source:  nytimes.com