The Borneo Post Online reported today that the families of Tayudin Anjut, 45, and Abdurahim Sumas, 62, had yet to be contacted by any party after they were rescued by the Philippine military.
Tayudin’s wife, Gustiah Sultan, 46, said in Tawau that she had come to know about the rescue through media reports only, the daily said.
The two Sabahans were abducted with three others by the Abu Sayyaf terror group from a tugboat on July 18 last year. It was reported that the kidnappers initially demanded about RM10 million for their release.
The status of the other three hostages – Fandy Bakran, 26, Mohd Ridzuan Ismail, 32, and Mohamad Jumadil Rahim, 23 – were still unknown, the Borneo Post reported.
Tayudin and Abdurahim were found drifting on a boat in a weak and sickly state after having been abandoned by the kidnappers near the group’s coastal forest hideout on the island of Pata within the province of Sulu in the Philippines, the report said.
They have since been receiving treatment at a military hospital.
Gustiah said this was the third dangerous incident encountered by Tayudin in his maritime voyages. He had once escaped by jumping into the sea when his boat sank at Sg Sibuku, Tarakan.
On the other occasion, the MV Zuhairi ferry he was on collided with a tugboat beside the jetty in Semporna in January last year, the report said.
It added that Tayudin got married in 2003, and has two children, aged 12 and 5.