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Two Canadian tourists, a Norwegian resort manager and a Filipino woman were kidnapped by unidentified gunmen on Monday evening from Holiday Oceanview Samal near Davao City.
“Four people were taken but we do not know what group was behind the attack. It appeared the foreigners were the targets, they were not taken at random,” according to Philippines army Captain Alberto Caber.
The Norwegian was resort manager Kjartan Sekkingstad, who was seized by the suspects after he went outside his yacht to check what was going on outside.
The two Canadians were identified as John Ridsel and Robert Hall, while the Filipina was only identified as “Tess” and is supposedly Hall’s girlfriend.
Caber told Reuters that there were about 30 foreign tourists at the resort at the time of the raid but they seemed to have specific targets in mind. Two Japanese tourists tried to intervene but failed, according to Reuters.
The gunmen, who arrived on speedboats carrying around 20 people, spoke English and Tagalog and fled towards the Mindanao mainland with their captives.
Three navy ships were sent to search and intercept the gunmen’s boat, while ground units were also alerted to locate possible landing sites in southeastern Mindanao, an army commander said. With reports from Reuters and ABS-CBN News.
Photo: Skyscrapercity.com
