4 Foreign Oil Workers Kidnapped Off Nigerian Coast Freed

Four foreign oil workers who were kidnapped when unknown gunmen attacked their vessel in the Gulf of Guinea off Nigeria on August 4 have been released, their employer Sea Trucks Group said Thursday.

"They were released last night," company spokeswoman Corrie van Kessel told Agence France Presse, regarding the Indonesian, Iranian, Malaysian and Thai nationals.

"They are OK. The families have been informed and we are very much relieved," she added, but declined to comment on the details of the release, including whether a ransom was paid.

Asked whether the prisoners sustained serious injuries or faced abuse while in captivity, van Kessel said, "no, not at all."

Nigeria's navy spokesman Kabir Aliyu told AFP he had heard that the four were free, but said he did not have details and it was not clear if Nigeria's marine forces played a role in any release operation.

Sea Trucks Group provides support services to the oil majors operating off Nigeria.

The company was founded in Nigeria and Lagos remains the headquarters, but it has a corporate office in the Netherlands, where van Kessel is based.

A 2009 amnesty deal sharply reduced unrest in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta region, but sporadic incidents continue to occur, including kidnappings for ransom.