Local militants vacated an Agip oil platform they seized two
weeks ago and released about 40 hostages in southern Nigeria, a
government official said on Monday.
Victor Akenge, an official of the southern Bayelsa State
government, said that the militants left the flow station on Sunday
morning and released the people they took hostage, adding that the
hostages were " in good health."
He denied any ransoms have been paid for the release of the oil
facility and the hostages.
The militants attacked the oil platform operated by Italian oil
company Agip in southern Nigerian region of Niger Delta in
Bayelsaon Nov. 6.
Occupying oil facilities or taking oil workers hostage is common
in southern Nigeria.
Nigeria is Africa's largest oil producer and the sixth largest
oil exporter in the world with oil exports accounting for around 95
percent of its foreign currency receipts.
(Xinhua News Agency November 21, 2006)
