Pirates attack 2 foreign vessels; 12 crewmen rescued off Maguindanao

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – A combined team of the Marines and the Army’s 38th Infantry Battalion rescued on Tuesday off Maguindanao 12 foreign crewmen of a Malaysian-flagged tugboat and barge, which pirates attacked while en route to Davao City from Indonesia.

Maj. Chute Adecer, executive officer of the Marine Battalion Landing Team 1, said the 12 seamen – six Malaysians, five Indonesians and one Myanmar national – are now being documented for their subsequent turnover to the proper government agencies.

Benito Ramos, executive director of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, said they have alerted the Department of Foreign Affairs about the rescue so the concerned embassies could be informed.

Fishermen and barangay officials in Datu Blah Sinsuat town spotted the distressed crewmen and asked the Marines and Army-led militiamen to tow their rafts to the shores of Barangay Pura using pump boats.

All the 12 seamen can hardly communicate in English.

Col. Alexander Balutan, chief of the 1st Marine Brigade, said the crewmen of Woodman 38 and Woodman 39 left the Port of Miri in Sarawak, Malaysia on July 24 for Indonesia where they picked up merchandise for transport to Davao City.

The 12 rescued crewmen recounted that the pirates, who spoke Bahasa Indonesia, seized their vessels on July 27, ordered them to jump overboard at gunpoint, threw two inflatable rafts at them, and sailed away. – With Alexis Romero, Evelyn Macairan