Eight Filipinos and three South Koreans seized by armed men in Nigeria’s oil-rich southern region said in a telephone message aired Sunday that they were being beaten up and deprived of food.
We are in the forest, there is no tent, no shade, no food, no water. For three days we are beaten up, I don’t know what will happen next,” one of the Filipino hostages said in the message aired on radio DZBB here.
The South Korean executives and Filipino labourers with Daewoo Engineering and Construction were kidnapped Thursday following a shootout at a power plant construction site in southern Nigeria.
Contact has been made with the gunmen but with little result so far.
DZBB radio said it obtained the recording from a colleague of the Filipinos who had recently returned home and whose mobile telephone number the hostages called to air their appeal.
“Every single time, every single hour is important. They asked us to call for help. Why? Because our management Daewoo is not doing anything good to release us,” the Filipino hostage said.
There were no names mentioned, although a heavily accented voice could be heard in the background telling the hostage what to say.
The Philippines’ Overseas Workers Welfare Administration has been told of the tape but declined to give any comments until it hears from negotiators on the ground.