Armed pirates kidnapped two crewmembers from the Ro-Ro vessel Super Shuttle Roro 9 near Sibago island off the coast of Philippines on March 23, Reuters informed citing Philippine officials.

The pirates, who are allegedly members of the Filipino Muslim militants group Abu Sayyaf, took the ship’s captain and chief engineer.

The 11,400 dwt vessel was on its way to General Santos City on the southern island of Mindanao from the central Philippines when it was intercepted by the armed men in three speed boats.

AIS data provided by MarineTraffic shows that the 1980-built RoRo is currently stopped at the country’s Zamboanga anchorage.

World Maritime News contacted the owner of the ship, the Philippine-based Asian Marine Transport Corp, and relevant authorities for more details on the matter, however, they are yet to reply.

The incident occurred only hours after Philippine officials rescued two Malaysian tug boat crewmembers who were held captive by Abu Sayyaf for almost eight months.