Gunmen in Nigeria released a Romanian hostage kidnapped three months ago in the Niger Delta, a military spokesman said on Saturday.
The Romanian was seized in January when gunmen in speedboats attacked the MT Meredith tanker at the Bonny Fairway Buoy, a route regularly used by oil services vessels in the delta.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), the main militant group in the region, said one of its affiliate groups had carried out the attack.
“The Romanian, who was abducted in Bonny in January by gunmen, has been released. He was released in Bayelsa state early yesterday,” said Colonel Rabe Abubakar, spokesman for the military taskforce in the Niger Delta.
Nigeria’s coastal waters are among the world’s most dangerous for piracy, second only to Somalia, according to the International Maritime Bureau.
More than 200 foreigners have been kidnapped in the delta, home to Africa’s biggest oil and gas industry, over the past three years. Most were released unharmed after a ransom payment. It was not clear whether a ransom was paid for the release of the Romanian.