Africa

Africa

4 foreign oil workers abducted off Nigerian coast

24 December 2012 19:32 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Nigerian police on Monday confirmed the abduction of four expatriate oil workers off the coast of oil-rich Bayelsa State, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

The police made confirmation after receiving information about the abduction of the expatriates on Sunday.

Fidelis Odonna, the state police spokesperson, told reporters in Yenagoa, the state capital, that the identities and nationality of the oil workers had not been ascertained.

No group has claimed responsibility for the abduction or demanded ransom in exchange for the hostages, according to the spokesman. "We have received report on the abduction of the four expatriate oil workers off the coast of the state in the early hours of Sunday, Dec. 23," he said.

"As we speak, details of the incident are still sketchy. However, the command has commenced investigation as we have sent out a team to get to the matter," he added.

Odonna assured that details of the kidnapping would be made available to the media when the command received it.

Also on Monday, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said pirates armed with guns attacked an offshore supply vessel and kidnapped four crew members the previous day at 7:45 p.m. local time.

According to the IMB statement, no crew members were injured and the vessel sailed to a safe port.

The Navy could not be reached for comment. Piracy and armed robbery in the Gulf of Guinea have been on rise in recent years.