Press "PandaGuides" above to follow us!
An American man abducted in the Philippines is presumed dead after a witness claimed he was shot during a struggle with his captors, the Philippines News Agency reported, citing police.
Elliot Eastman, from Vermont, was abducted on October 17, near his home in Sibuco, on the island of Mindanao, where he’d been living with his wife and regularly posting videos on YouTube of his life there.
Just weeks before he was abducted, Eastman said on a Facebook livestream that he was afraid of living in the area, where he had been for about five months, according to police.
'As long as I'm here, my life is still at risk, you know,' Eastman said on September 22.
'That's the reality. especially the area that I'm in....It's not even just the Philippines.
'This area that I'm in is like the most dangerous are in the country so it's literally like the red zone.'
Eastman added that 'of course he was scared' but not as much as he was at the beginning of his time in the Asian country.
'There's nights I'm afraid, there's times I'm afraid.. but it's gotten better. In the past, I've had a hard time sleeping at night time.'
When asked when he would return to the US by one of the livestream's viewers, Elliot replied he was not sure.
In a bio under his YouTube channel, Eastman wrote: 'Hello everyone I’m Elliot Eastman, I am 26 years old and I came to the Philippines about a year and half ago where I met the love of my life deep in the mountains of the red zone of the Philippines.
'Zamboanga del Norte is a recently developed area of the Philippines that was once only accessible by boat.
'I will be showing you my day to day life as the first and only foreigner to have ever lived here in Sibuco for a long period of time. I am from the USA!'
Regional police spokesman Lt. Col. Ramoncelio Sawan told media Thursday that the witness told them that Eastman was shot twice by his captors on the night of his abduction as they ferried him away from the scene.
“We are constrained to believe that he has died. All of the information that we have points to that,” Sawan said.
Police are trying to verify the witness’ account but are yet to find Eastman’s body, which the witness said was thrown overboard.
Sawan vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice to protect foreigners living in the area.
Police have made several arrests during their search for Eastman, with three suspects killed in a gunbattle with the police last month.
Sibuco is in the western region of Mindanao, the country’s second-largest island, which is home to several Islamist insurgent groups and has long been a hotbed of insurgency in the country of majority Catholics.
Police have said the present case is unlikely linked to Muslim rebels.
Source: CNN
Long press or scan the QR CODE below to follow us!
