A female tourist from Shanghai and a Filipino resort employee were abducted by armed men at the Singamata Reef Resort in Sabah on Wednesday night.

The Shanghai tourist was identified as Gao Hua Yuan and the Filipino resort staff as Marcy Dayawan.

Initial reports say the abduction happened after 10pm on Wednesday when six armed men stormed into the resort and forcibly took the two victims before speeding off in their boat.

Like Us on Facebook

Resort employees said the incident was done swiftly and the kidnappers were gone within minutes.

Sabah police rushed to the scene on Wednesday night and managed to secure the resort, its staff and 61 guests, majority of whom are Chinese.

On Thursday morning, the Chinese Consul-General met with Malaysian authorities to map out plans to rescue the kidnap victims.

Consul-general Liu Quan said they have set up a 24-hour emergency system after his meeting with Malaysia's Tourism minister.

All the 59 Chinese guests at Singamata Reef have decided to pack up and leave, in what could be another dent in the already thorny relations between China and Malaysia following the still unresolved fate of Malaysia Airlines MH370 that had 154 Chinese nationals on board when it disappeared mid-flight.

Consul Liu, however, assured that they are working closely with the Malaysian side in resolving the reef kidnaping soonest.