Two crew members who had been held hostage found adrift in boat

Two Malaysian crew members of the "Suodong 3" who had been held hostage by the Abu Sayyaf Group for eight months were found aboard a boat adrift off the southern Philippines on March 23, 2017. Tayudin Anjut, 45, and Abdurahim bin Sumas, 62, were abandoned by the Abu Sayyaf gunmen before dawn near their coastal forest hideout on the remote island of Pata. They were saved weak and in a sickly state and receiving treatment at a military hospital. A Philippine Navy patrol boat found the pair, eight months after they were abducted along with three other crewmen of a tugboat that was boarded by gunmen near the sea border between the two countries. Their recovery followed a Philippine military operation against the kidnappers on a nearby island early in February that left eight gunmen dead.