Filipino hostages in Nigeria safe, no contact yet

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

ABUJA, June 24 (Reuters) Two Filipino oil workers abducted on Tuesday in southern Nigeria are safe and authorities are trying to establish contact with them or their kidnappers, officials said today.

Six gunmen in a speedboat seized the two men in Port Harcourt, the main city in the Niger Delta, where a wave of abductions and attacks on the oil industry have shut down a quarter of Nigeria's output since February.

''They are safe. I am sure of that,'' said navy spokesman Obiora Medani.

Asked whether the security forces had made contact with the kidnappers or knew who they were, Medani said: ''Efforts are being made in that direction but it's very sensitive and I don't want to give any information, for the safety of those people.'' Spokesmen for the police and the government of Rivers state, where Port Harcourt is located, said authorities had not yet made contact and declined to make any further comment.

It was not clear whether the Filipino workers were kidnapped by militants waging a campaign to gain greater local control over oil resources, or by a group seeking money for their release. Abductions for ransom are common in the delta.

The men were under contract to Norwegian-based oil services company Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS). Their direct employer is a company called Beaufort International.

''PGS is pleased to report that it has received further information concerning the state of the two hostages and confirms that they are both in good health,'' the company said on its Web site.

''The company hopes that contact can soon be established with the hostage takers and is coordinating efforts to bring this situation to a quick and successful conclusion,'' it added.

The militant Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, which has staged a series of bloody attacks on oil facilities and kidnapped a total of 18 expatriate oil workers this year, has said it is not involved in the latest case.

The Niger Delta produces all of Nigeria's daily oil output of 2.4 million barrels, but impoverished local communities have seen little benefit from decades of oil production. This has caused an increasingly violent backlash against the industry.

The delta's problems are worsened by pollution, lawlessness, corruption and struggles for control of a lucrative oil theft business.

Niger Delta kidnappers routinely ask for and receive money, and normally release their captives unharmed after a few days.

Oil companies deny paying ransoms, but security analysts and local activists say the practice is common and fuels the cycle of violence.

REUTERS SHB HS1714

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