Japan said it was doing its utmost to secure the release of two Japanese and one Filipino who were kidnapped by armed pirates from a Japanese-registered tugboat in the Malacca Strait. The foreign ministry set up a task force to handle the crisis and asked Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore for help, a ministry spokesman said. "We are making the utmost effort to secure their safe and swift release," the spokesman said, while adding that Tokyo had no new information about the three crewmen. The remaining 11 crewmen from the tugboat were safe late Monday. The three are 56-year-old captain Nobuo Inoue, 50-year-old chief engineer Shunji Kuroda and the Filipino crewman. The identity of the Filipino man was not given. Kyodo News said the pirates also stole 700,000-800,000 yen (6,700 dollars and 7,700 dollars) in cash and some documents.
The narrow 960-kilometre (600-mile) Malacca Strait, bordered by Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, is used by about 50,000 ships a year carrying a third of world trade and half its oil supplies.
The three nations last year began coordinated patrols in the Strait after Japan and Western countries expressed concern that terrorists could hijack a tanker to use as a floating bomb or to block the vital channel and disrupt world trade.