KUALA LUMPUR, June 16 -- A 32-year-old caretaker and a Filipino worker were abducted early Monday by two gunmen from a fish farm at Kampung Sapang in Malaysia's eastern state of Sabah.

The incident occurred at about 12:40 a.m., when two armed men, believed to be Filipinos, took away the two victims from their fish farm, and fled to southern Philippines in a speed boat.

The Philippines authorities had been alerted and Malaysian security forces were searching the area.

This is the third abduction case in the east coast of Sabah this year, with a Chinese fish farm manager kidnapped on May 6 and a Chinese tourist abducted from a resort on April 2.