The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said the release of four Italian hostages, one US hostage and one Croatian hostage has been delayed because MEND had not been provided with a helicopter.
‘They would have been released today but we requested a chopper and this request was turned down,’ a MEND spokesman said.
He did not specify who had refused the request for the helicopter.
MEND seized the men on May 1 from a floating storage vessel operated by Chevron (nyse: CVX – news – people ) Nigeria Limited in southern Nigeria.
Immediately after taking the hostages, MEND said they would be released unconditionally on May 30 provided no attempts to free them were made in the meantime.