A Lebanese man held hostage for nearly three months in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta region has been freed, Italy’s foreign ministry has said.
The man was seized along with three Italians when militants attacked an offshore oil pumping station.
Imad Saliba is the second of the four men to be released. An Italian man was released in mid-January.
Kidnappings for ransom are common in the Niger Delta and hostages are usually freed after ransom payments.
Dawn raid
“We can confirm that the Lebanese citizen abducted in Nigeria has been released,” a Italian foreign ministry spokesman said.
He said negotiations to arrange the release of the other two Italian hostages were continuing.
All of the men were working for the Italian oil group, Agip, a part of Italian oil giant ENI SpA.
They were seized from the company’s facilities at Brass, in southern Bayelsa State, by speedboat during an armed dawn raid on 7 December last year.
The world’s eighth biggest exporter of crude has seen oil exports fall by almost a quarter since militants demanding greater local control of oil wealth began staging a series of raids on the industry in early 2006.