Taxidermist kidnapped in the Phillipines!

[Nancy C]

Kathy Blomquist posted a link to this on FB - I have copied and pasted it.
Lorenzo Vinciguerra is a taxidermist and has contributed to Breakthrough magazine.

EUROPEAN TOURISTS AND GUIDE SEIZED IN PHILIPPINES
 01 FEB 2012

(AGI) Manila - Two European tourists and one of their guides have been kidnapped in the south of the Philippines. A 47 year old man from Ticino in Switzerland, Lorenzo Vinciguerra, and a 52 year old Dutchman, Elwood Horn, had been on a two-week bird-watching trip to the remote Tawi-Tawi islands, just off the coast of Borneo. Their boat was intercepted by a motorboat carrying the five kidnappers, armed with guns, pistols and a grenade-launcher, who forced the two men to follow them. They also seized one of their Philippino guides, Ivan Sadenas, while another guide managed to escape and sound the alarm. . .

[gavinm95]

Uh... That story was a little more intense than I expected. It sounds like the plot for a new movie...

[bowerbird]

Our thoughts be with these guys along with  others already held.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/kidnapped-filipino-makes-daring-escape/story-e6frf7jx-1226261398605

[Ken Edwards]

This is a very troubling story. Lorenzo Vinciguerra was featured in Breakthrough Issue 103, just last fall.

[Matt]

Thoughts and prayers go out to all of them.

[Terry Bennett]

Sounds like a job for seal team 6.

[petes]

do not venture to remote places that is off limits
that is off limits to foreigner  for bird watching  or whatever that is , as far as that.
its almost borneo
they did not follow protocol  and i call it : necklace  driving

seems like they ignore warning.

Philippines  is a very nice  and safe place but not in the way south where it is the boundary
 between autonomous muslim   states.

 they hide  you there   and game over or

' money game is about to begin.'
  i

pete

[Ken Edwards]

Kidnapped Filipino’s daring escape

Associated Press

3:41 pm | Thursday, February 2nd, 2012

MANILA, Philippines—As his kidnappers took him in a speeding boat toward a notorious militant stronghold in Tawi-Tawi, Ivan Sarenas decided that he would die if he didn’t try to escape. When he saw some fishermen, he took his chance, diving deep and hoping his armed captors wouldn’t shoot.

The Filipino wildlife photographer, seized with two European tourists during a bird-watching trip, escaped Wednesday and spoke to The Associated Press on Thursday. The tourists Sarenas was guiding, Dutch Ewold Horn and Swiss Lorenzo Vinciguerra, remain missing.

“I am still traumatized,” Sarenas said. “I have guilt and concern for the welfare of my companions.”

Sarenas said he, Horn and Vinciguerra arrived in Tawi-Tawi, the Philippines’ southernmost province, on Sunday in search of the Sulu hornbill, said to be the most endangered hornbill in the world.

Tawi-Tawi is famed for virgin beaches surrounded by crystal blue waters but, like the most of the restive southern Philippines, it is undeveloped for tourism because of years of violence, including ransom kidnappings, bomb attacks and fighting between troops and Muslim rebels.

After spending three days in a mountain forest, the three were heading back to the provincial capital of Bongao by boat Wednesday when five rifle-toting gunmen on another boat fired warning shots and intercepted them, Sarenas said.

They were transferred to another boat, then a third boat. About two hours later, about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sarenas decided to jump over after he realized they were being taken north, in the direction of Jolo Island in the adjacent Sulu archipelago, the stronghold of the brutal Abu Sayyaf group.

“My assumption was we were heading to Jolo. That’s why I became scared because my life would be worthless once I reach Jolo,” he said, recalling reports of the militants’ atrocities, including beheadings of hostages.

He said he informed Horn and Vinciguerra of his plan. “They said, ‘Go. Good luck,’” he said.

He got his chance when they were about 700 yards (meters) from the shore. He saw three small boats with fishermen. He said he gambled that the gunmen wouldn’t shoot him with so many witnesses around.

He removed a tarpaulin cover over him and his companions. An M16 rifle fitted with a grenade launcher was lying on the boat’s floor; he held the muzzle to prevent the weapon from being pointed at him. Then he said he quickly rolled over to the side of the boat.

“I made a deep dive because I was afraid they would shoot me,” said Sarenas, a triathlete.

The kidnappers did not fire and left him in the waters where fishermen soon rescued him. He was brought to a village in Languyan township and later to a police station.

Sarenas said Vinciguerra worked as a taxidermist for a museum in Switzerland and Horn as a freelance taxidermist.

“Some of the birds they have mounted they wanted to see in the wild,” Sarenas said.

Muslim insurgents have been fighting for minority self-rule in the predominantly Christian nation’s south, and the Abu Sayyaf is the most violent group. The militants have been holding an Australian man abducted in December, as well as a Japanese and a Malaysian.

Tawi-Tawi Governor Sadikul Sahali said that the birdwatchers were accompanied by a town councilman and an unarmed police officer because the foreigners refused armed escorts.

After seizing them, the gunmen ordered the councilman, the policeman and the skipper out of the boat before escaping with their captives.

[Ken Edwards]

2 wildlife photographers kidnapped in Tawi-Tawi

by Cecil Morella, Agence France-Presse
Posted at 02/01/2012 8:14 PM | Updated as of 02/02/2012 9:53 AM

MANILA, Philippines – Two foreigners and their Filipino guide were kidnapped in Panglima Sugala town in Tawi-Tawi Tuesday afternoon, a military spokesman said.

Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Philippine National Police (ARMM-PNP) regional director Chief Superintendent Bienvenido Latag identified the kidnapped victims as Elwold Horn from Holland, Lorenzo Vinciguerra from Switzerland and Ivan Sadenas from Davao City.

Latag said 5 suspects armed with M-203, two M-16 rifles and two .45 caliber pistols aboard a pump boat abducted the victims at Sitio Luuk, Barangay Parangan, Panglima Sugala town.

Tawi-Tawi Vice Governor Ruby Sahali said the municipal councilor of Panglima Sugala, Nestor Cabaluas, was also kidnapped but was able to escape.

Lt. Col. Randolph Cabangbang, spokesman of the military’s Western Mindanao Command in Zamboanga City, said soldiers have already been dispatched to rescue the kidnapped victims.

“Accordingly, the foreign nationals, together with Nestor Cabaluas, went at said place when the group, armed with M-16 rifles and caliber .45 pistols, grabbed the victims and dragged them to the shorelines where the watercraft was waiting while Cabaluas escaped,” said Cabangbang.

“After said abduction, the abductors fled towards Barangay Lambog, Panglima Sugala, same province. So far, this is the only information we received,” added Cabangbang.

Sahali said the foreigners are wildlife photographers and have been in the island province for about two weeks.

"They are here for bird watching." Sahali said. "They are amazed by the vast bird species that we have in the island."

Sahali said the visitors spent their time in the province searching for birds in the jungles and were set to return to Poblacion Bato-Bato in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, authorities are investigating the possible affiliation of the armed men with the terrorist group Abu Sayyaf.

A rescue operation is ongoing.

“We have a Marine battalion there, the 4th Marine Battalion Landing Team. We have dispatched troops from the battalion to rescue the kidnapped foreigners,” said Cabangbang.-- With a report from Queenie Casimiro, ABS-CBN News Zamboanga

[Ken Edwards]

Philippines searches swamps for kidnapped Europeans
 
http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20120206-326221.html
 
AFP
Monday, Feb 06, 2012

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines - Philippine troops were scouring mangroves on remote southern islands Monday as the search for two kidnapped Europeans intensified, security officials said.

Hundreds of naval troops and Marines have been deployed to search for Swiss Lorenzo Vinciguerra, 47, and Dutchman Ewold Horn, 52, in the remote Tawi Tawi archipelago, said Colonel Jose Johriel Cenabre.

The pair were snatched by un unknown group of gunmen on Wednesday while on an expedition to photograph rare hornbills in the wild, but government forces have since found no sign of the pair.

“Our search efforts have intensified. There is no reason for us to believe that they have slipped past the naval blockade (around Tawi Tawi),” said Cenabre, deputy commander of the local Navy.

The authorities have not been able to pinpoint who carried out the abduction and where the captives are being held. There are vast seas around Tawi Tawi, which consists of more than 300 small islands bordering Malaysia.

“We do not know who they are what their demands are,” provincial police chief Senior Superintendent Rodelio Jocson told AFP.

“The group has not contacted us and we are still searching in the area.

“They (the kidnappers) have not said anything and we have not identified the group,” said Major General Noel Coballes, the regional military chief.

The southern Philippines has long been plagued by groups of outlaws who kidnap people to hold for huge ransoms.

The most feared of these is the Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf which has been tied to the worst terror attacks in Philippine history.

In previous cases, armed gangs have turned their captives over to Abu Sayyaf, who have been known to behead their captives.

But Abu Sayyaf is not widely active in Tawi Tawi, raising hopes that the hostages may still be in the hands of ordinary criminals.

Abu Sayyaf, founded with seed money from Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in the 1990s, are based largely in the islands of Jolo and Basilan to the northeast of Tawi Tawi.

US troops have been based in the southern Philippines for a decade to help train local troops in hunting down members of the group.

[bowerbird]

Philippines in dark on 2 kidnapped Europeans - Gulf Today ...
// Philippines in dark on 2 kidnapped Europeans - Gulf Today ...
// February 3, 2012 at 4:02 PM


http://cebusandman.typepad.com/philippines_travel_news/2012/02/philippines-in-dark-on-2-kidnapped-europeans-gulf-today.html

// Philippines in dark on 2 kidnapped Europeans - Gulf Today
// February 3, 2012 at 5:14 AMhttp://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNG2Xv7QDrZVN2NFpP8HZjLYwFhyKg&url=http://gulftoday.ae/portal/b21e5e2e-d748-4de4-be67-2d672182ffe4.aspx
MANILA: A Philippine military official on Thursday admitted they have yet to pinpoint the exact location of the two Europeans who were kidnapped by armed men while birdwatching on a tiny island in Tawi-Tawi province in volatile Mindanao.Lieutenant Colonel Randolph Cabangbang, the regional military spokesman, also admitted they have yet to establish whether the Abu Sayyaf extremists were behind the abduction on Wednesday of Swiss Vicente Vinciguerra, 47, and Dutchman Ewold Horn, 52, both taxidermists.The victims, Cabangbang said, visited the island with a Filipino guide to see for themselves and photograph the live rare pigeon and hornbill species, which they have mounted as taxidermists.“We cannot rule out the possibility that the Abu Sayyaf is involved,” Cabangbang said. “However, I will stress there are other armed groups including pirates who also operate in these waters.”
In Malacanang, Abigail Valte, the deputy spokesman of President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, condemned the kidnapping and added that government security forces were immediately ordered to launch operations to rescue the two victims.