Sayyaf hijacking foiled in Sulu Sea

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – Navy troops foiled an attempt by Abu Sayyaf bandits to hijack a foreign vessel in the Sulu Sea on Wednesday, an official said yesterday. 

M/V Dong Hae Star, a Panamanian-flagged ship, was on its way to Indonesia from China when two speedboats pursued them near Pearl Bank in the waters off Taganak Island in Tawi-Tawi, said Capt. Jo-Ann Petinglay, spokesperson for the Western Mindanao Command.

Petinglay said the crew of M/V Dong Hae Star sent a distress call to a monitoring station of the Navy in Bongao, which dispatched patrol boats to the area.

She said the speedboats stopped chasing the vessel when they sighted the responding Navy ships. 

Petinglay said the Navy ships also monitored and provided security to passing foreign vessels in the area. 

The hijacking attempt came barely four days after gunmen attacked a Vietnamese cargo vessel in the waters off Tawi-Tawi, killing a crewmember and seizing six others.

 M/V Giang Hai was sailing near Pearl Bank and Taganak island when gunmen on a speedboat blocked its way.

Rear Admiral Rene Medina, Naval Forces Western Mindanao chief, said they deployed additional naval ships to augment members of Joint Task Force Tawi-Tawi in their law enforcement operations amid recent cross-border kidnappings by Abu Sayyaf bandits.