According to the report, one of the sailors – engineer Tayudin Anjut, 45, had contacted his employer to inform him that they were in Basilan in Southern Philippines and had said the kidnappers wanted 200 million pesos to secure their release.

The report said that Tayudin’s wife, Gustiah Sultan, 46, lost consciousness and collapsed upon learning that her husband and his colleagues were missing from their tugboat on Monday.

She described Tayudin as a loving and caring husband and father.

According to her, this was the third “tragedy” that has struck Tayudin, who has been sailing for more than 25 years – with 10 of it with the tugboat company he’s currently employed in. He once survived a boat sinking and the second was when the ferry he was on collided with a tugboat in Semporna in January this year.

The couple have two children, aged five and 12.

News reports from the Philippines yesterday said the men had been taken by the Abu Sayyaf militant group.