11.   Most of the hostages had been held four months after being captured at the Malaysian diving resort of Sipadan.

12.   Officials were concerned that the oil slick, which currents were carrying northward, would wash up on the shores of northern Penang, a popular Malaysian resort island.

13.   One group is holding American Jeffrey Schilling and Filipino Roland Ulla, who was kidnapped from a Malaysian diving resort in April.

14.   Sairin was involved in negotiations over hostages taken by the Abu Sayyaf in a raid on a Malaysian resort last year.

15.   Stephane Loisy of France donned a diving suit and went scuba diving for the first time since the group was abducted from the Malaysian resort.

16.   The Abu Sayyaf reportedly made millions of dollars off a similar kidnapping last year from a Malaysian resort and used the money to rearm and resupply.

17.   The Abu Sayyaf group released most of its hostages from the Malaysian resort raid for large ransoms, reportedly paid by Libya.

18.   The decision came after two raids by Abu Sayyaf rebels from the southern Philippines on two separate Malaysian diving resorts.

19.   The group continues to hold a Filipino worker seized more than a year ago from the Malaysian resort.

20.   The group rose to notoriety last year by kidnapping scores of foreigners from a Malaysian resort and reportedly negotiating huge ransoms.