China confirms nine workers missing

“On Jan 25, a Chinese petrochemical company in south Nigeria was attacked by unidentified armed men. Nine Chinese staff went missing and others had been moved to a safe place,” said a statement on the ministry’s website.

“China is currently meeting with relevant parties to try to verify the situation of the missing workers and will soon start rescue work.”

Nigerian police and industry officials said gunmen abducted the Chinese workers in the southern Nigerian oil state of Bayelsa on Thursday.

They were identified as workers of the China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), but Nigerian police said it was still unclear whether all nine were abducted or whether some went into hiding.

The gunmen also raided the CNPC office and staff living quarters and took an unspecified amount of cash, police and industry officials there said.

No party has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.

This is the second time so far this month that Chinese working in Africa’s biggest oil-producing country have been seized.

On January 5, gunmen abducted five Chinese telecoms workers from their residence and ferried them to an unknown location.

The workers were employees of Sichuan Telecommunications Company. They were working on a project to extend telephone services to rural areas when they were seized.

They were released by their unidentified kidnappers on January 17 and have since returned home.