MANILA, March 14 (Reuters) - Three Red Cross workers kidnapped in the southern Philippines contacted the international aid group for the first time in nearly three weeks, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.

ICRC workers -- Swiss Andreas Notter, Italian Eugenio Vagni and Filipina Mary Jean Lacaba -- were kidnapped by gunmen belonging to the Abu Sayyaf group nearly two months ago.

They were abducted minutes after they left a prison on southern Jolo island where they were inspecting a water and sanitation project.

"It was very good to speak with all three and know that they are together," Alain Aeschlimann, ICRC's head of operations for East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said in a statement dated March 13 on the group's website www.icrc.org.

"They sound calm and composed, considering the enormous stress of this situation," he said.

The three had been communicating regularly with the Red Cross by telephone until three weeks ago.

"It's frustrating for everyone, especially our three kidnapped colleagues and their families, that this has gone on for so long. We would very much like to see some rapid and meaningful progress towards resolving this crisis," Aeschlimann said.

The kidnappers, members of a small Islamic militant group, have demanded the withdrawal of the military from the lawless south of the country before they start talks to free their captives.

The Red Cross reiterated in its statement a plea to the country's authorities to ensure any military action would not put the lives of their workers in danger.

In another part of the southern Mindanao region, gunmen abducted three female public school teachers late on Friday in seas off Sibugay Bay in Zamboanga Sibugay province, police said.

Four gunmen on an old, white speedboat pointed guns at the wooden-hull motorised ferry boat carrying the teachers, frightening the boatman who jumped overboard and swam away.

The unidentified gunmen then seized the female teachers and left a fourth teacher who identified himself as a Muslim.

The incident is the latest in a rash of kidnappings in southern Philippines, where notorious kidnap-for-ransom gangs operate and Muslim militants are fighting for a separate homeland. (Reporting by Rosemarie Francisco; Editing by Valerie Lee)

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