Nigerian bandits kidnap Filipino seaman — DFA

Armed Nigerian bandits abducted a Filipino seafarer and his Croatian colleague in Cameroon last Sunday, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Wednesday. The DFA said the Filipino and Croatian were working for a vessel of Jan de Nuls, a Belgian dredging operation in the port city of Douala. Citing reports from the Filipino seafarer’s manning agency, the DFA said the rest of the crew were able to escape the abductors while another Filipino crewmember was able to call the agency to report the incident. (http://dfa.gov.ph/main/index.php/newsroom/dfa-releases/1854-nigerian-bandits-kidnap-filipino-seafarer) It added the manning agency has already informed the family of the kidnapped Filipino. The DFA Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs (OUMWA) instructed the Philippine Embassy in Abuja to make representations with Nigerian authorities for the safe release of the Filipino crewmember. It also asked the Philippine Embassy in Brussels to coordinate with the ship's principal in Belgium to ensure that negotiations for the release of the seafarer is being undertaken. "The DFA-OUMWA will also ensure that the manning agency continue to give the salaries and other financial benefits of the seafarer to his family here," it said. The last incident of kidnapping in the area was in July 2009 involving two Filipino seamen aboard MV Sichem Peace. Both were released after 18 days on captivity. — LBG, GMANews.TV