9 oil workers kidnapped in Nigeria freed

BEIJING – China’s Foreign Ministry announced Sunday that nine Chinese oil workers who were kidnapped last month in Nigeria had been released unharmed by their captors.

The workers were taken Jan. 25 when gunmen stormed the government-owned Chinese National Petroleum Co. office in the Nigerian state of Bayelsa.


The Foreign Ministry said in a brief statement on its Web site that the workers were released early Sunday (Beijing time) and were expected to return to China soon.

In a separate incident in southern Nigeria’s Rivers state last month, five Chinese telecommunication workers were kidnapped and safely returned within two weeks.

AP