Gunmen slip past naval cordon with four hostages into remote mountains

Gunmen holding three foreigners and one Filipina hostage have slipped past a naval cordon and escaped to remote mountains in the southern Philippines without making ransom demands, police said on Wednesday.

Philippine forces have found the getaway boats the abductors used but have yet to determine who grabbed the four from a southern resort, Noel Detoyato an army spokesman said on Wednesday.

"Two motorized bancas were recovered on the shores of Tibanban," he said, referring out-rigger boats found near Tibanban village, about 100 kilometers southeast from the island where the kidnappings took place.