Kidnappers free 8 foreign oil workers in Nigeria

ABUJA—Kidnappers in Nigeria freed eight foreign oil workers on Sunday, two days after they were seized in an unprecedented raid on a rig far offshore that heightened fears in an oil industry hurt by a series of militant attacks.
Gunmen had captured six Britons, one American and one Canadian from a rig 40 miles out to sea on Friday. Two Britons were freed early on Sunday and the other men several hours later, local authorities and the British embassy said. “They are all safe and well. We have handed them over officially to the representatives from Peak,” said Johnny Iganiwari, information commissioner for Bayelsa state where the men were held captive. Peak Petroleum is a Nigerian company that operates the Bulford Dolphin rig where the hostages were seized.
Iganiwari and a source from one of Peak’s partner companies said the released men were in the Bayelsa state capital Yenagoa and talks were under way to decide where they would go next.—Agencies