British man abducted in Nigeria
Monday, 09 Jul 2007 17:44
The incident occurred in south-west Nigeria on Sunday night
An unidentified British oil worker has been kidnapped along with another foreign oil worker in Nigeria, the Foreign Office (FO) has confirmed.
The abduction occurred late last night as, elsewhere in the west African state, abducted British three-year-old Margaret Hill was being returned to her parents.
An FO spokesperson said the incident happened on a production barge near Calabar in Cross River State, located on the south-eastern coast of the country.
"Officials are in close contact with the family, with the company and with local authorities," she said.
"The Nigerian authorities are in the lead on the investigation into the incident."
The spokesperson added that the British government was in communication with Nigerian police but refused to comment on who might be behind the attack.
Yesterday's kidnapping forms part of a wider upturn in the numbers of attacks against western oil workers operating in the south of the country.
At least 100 people are believed to have been kidnapped in the last year alone as ransom-demanding militants seek redress for the perceived unfair distribution of funds from Nigeria's oil revenues.