The
kidnapping of two adventurers in the southern Philippines raises questions
about acceptable risk when travelling.
The Safety Hub's Phil Sylvester says even the most experienced travellers ignore warnings at
their own peril.
Adventurers Kidnapped
Disturbing news out of The Philippines this
week (Feb 2nd 2012), two foreign nationals on an adventure trip in the far south of the
country have been kidnapped by Al Qaeda offshoot, Abu Sayaf.
Kidnappings by this criminal/terror outfit
often do not end well. They’re currently holding an Australian man for ransom.
Warren Rodwell, who was not a tourist but lived in the region with his Filipina
wife, was taken just before Christmas 2011. In January his captors released a
video of him pleading with his family and government to pay a 2 million dollar
ransom to save his life.
Ransom is one of the methods used by Abu
Sayaf to fund their long-running campaign for an independent Muslim state in
this part of the predominantly Christian country
Likewise, the lives of the two adventurers now
hang in the balance. Unless local authorities can track down the rebels quickly
and secure the release of the men, it’s very likely they too will be held for
ransom. Some hostages have been held captive for months. Others have been
killed by their captors.
According to local authorities the men are
wildlife photographers and were in Tawi-Tawi to capture images of rare birds.
The danger to foreigners in this region is
well known. Most governments tell their citizens not to go there under any
circumstances.
(British Foreign Office map of travel advice for Philippines, with our arrow added)
There’s evidence they were also warned
about the risk by local authorities. Tawi-Tawi Governor Sadikul Sahali told
The Associated Press he sent along a town council member and an off-duty
police officer because the foreigners had refused an armed escort.
By the way, a Filipina wildlife
photographer and the skipper of the boat they’d chartered escaped by jumping
overboard when the rebels pounced. Abu Sayaf probably didn’t want them anyway,
foreigner hostages are much more lucrative.
What's Acceptable Risk?
On the face of it these men ignored sound
advice and took a great risk. Exotic birds pay no heed to political boundaries,
but perhaps these extreme bird watchers ought to have.
Whenever someone on the Ask A Nomad forum wants to know if a
destination is safe, I try to lay out all the facts for them. Those travel
warnings are in place for a reason. Plus, local knowledge is always best, if
the provincial governor wants you to take an armed escort, listen to him. But
in the end it’s up to each person to make their own call on the level of risk
they’re prepared to accept.
I can only surmise there must have been a
big incentive to go to this notoriously dangerous region, maybe bragging rights
at the bird watching club, or more likely, big money from wildlife magazines
for shots of rare birds?
And maybe they didn’t want an armed escort
because a Marlboro-smoking goon with an AK-47 scares the birds away just before
you press the shutter button.
Still, they’ve deliberately put themselves
in harm’s way, gone to a region where kidnapping is a real risk, where they
know it will be extremely unlikely they’ll be able to get emergency assistance
of any kind, there’s no way a regular travel insurance policy would cover them,
and their home governments are powerless to help.
I hope the men are released unharmed soon,
so they can regret their decisions at their leisure. When they’re safe back in
the arms of their families I’ll hold them up as an example to all adventurers.
Do you really understand the risks you’re taking, and are you willing to accept
the consequences?
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