The German Foreign Office today said two nationals were this month kidnapped in the Niger delta region of Nigeria in separate incidents.
In the first, a German national working for construction company Bilfinger Berger AG was abducted on Aug. 3, a ministry spokesman said. The second German was one of five foreign workers seized on Aug. 13 from a bar in Port Harcourt, he said. The spokesman declined to name the abductees.
The ministry has set up a crisis centre to try to locate the kidnapping victims and has warned travelers on its Web site to avoid the Niger delta, said the spokesman who declined to be identified.
More than 40 oil workers have been kidnapped this year in Nigeria, with five incidents in August alone. Most of the abductions this month have taken place in Port Harcourt, a city in the Niger delta that is home to the Nigerian headquarters of companies including Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s venture. Nigeria is Africa’s biggest oil producer.
The five foreign oil workers seized on Aug. 13 include employees of Halliburton Co. and Smith International Inc. Nigerian police, government and company officials said Aug. 14.