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Gunmen seize 4 US oil workers in Nigeria
By Joel Olatunde Agoi
AFP
LAGOS
Petroleumworld.com 05 10 07Gunmen seized four US oil workers in southern Nigeria, adding to a list of dozens of foreigners taken hostage in recent weeks, officials said Wednesday.
"The US consul general in Lagos can confirm four US nationals were kidnapped," a US diplomat told AFP.
US Embassy sources had previously been able to confirm only that three out of the four were Americans.
The men were on a construction vessel off the oil-rich southern coast, the DLB Cheyenne, which was attacked late Tuesday by almost 40 gunmen on six small boats, an industry source said. Nigerian military personnel fought the attackers but could not stop the abductions.
"One Nigerian crew member and three Nigerian naval personnel sustained non-life threatening injuries," in the attack and were treated onsite, the operator of the Cheyenne, Global Industries Inc. said in an email to AFP from it Carlyss, Louisiana headquarters.
"Global Industries and security experts specializing in hostage situations are actively working with the US Department of State and the Federal Bureau of Investigation as well as Nigerian governmental authorities to secure the safe return of the Companys employees," the statement continued.
It added that all of Global's vessels and crews in the region have been relocated.
"We are taking all actions to secure the safe and speedy return of the employees involved in this incident and to safeguard our workforce in the region," Global's chief executive officer B.K. Chin said in the statement.
The state government is "trying to make contacts with the boys holding these men through community and opinion leaders in the area," a senior government official in the Delta state capital Asaba told AFP.
"We appeal for calm and the understanding of our foreign partners. This is not a pleasant situation but everything will be done to reach a truce in the best interest of the captives," he added.
The Cheyenne was attacked around 11:00 pm Tuesday night when it was about 10 kilometres off Escravos, in Delta state.
No one has claimed responsibility for the new attack, which was described as well-organised.
It came just 24 hours after three oil pipelines were blown up in a neighbouring state, Bayelsa. The group that carried out the pipeline attacks, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said in an email to AFP that it was not invloved in Tuesday's kidnapping.
More than 30 foreigners have been abducted in the Niger Delta since the beginning of May.
There was a lull in kidnappings during the Nigerian elections in April but armed groups have returned to the activity since.
"Looks like they're on a roll," one oil and gas industry analyst told AFP.
Niger Delta area is at the centre of a long confrontation between the government, militants who claim to be fighting for a larger share of the country's oil resources for local people, and a plethora of armed gangs out to take ransom money.
More than 150 foreign workers have been kidnapped there since the start of last year, most of them connected to the oil industry.
The vast majority have been released unharmed. Several have however been injured or killed by the Nigerian military in rescue attempts, while dozens of security officers have also lost their lives.
AFP 09 1621 GMT 05 07
Copyright© 2007 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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