Pirates kill US oil workers
2004-04-24 16:56
Lagos - Nigerian river pirates killed five people, including two US oilmen, in an attack on workers inspecting abandoned wells in southern Nigeria's strife-torn Niger Delta, company officials said on Saturday.
A battle erupted on Friday when gunmen ambushed a naval patrol escorting a team working for US oil giant ChevronTexaco on the Benin River, west of the oil city of Warri, a Delta State government spokesperson said.
"The information that we have now is that five people died, two expatriates, two naval personnel and a Nigerian," said Deji Haastrup, speaking in Lagos for the US major's Nigerian subsidiary, Chevron Nigeria Ltd (CNL).
Two more Nigerians, a navy trooper and an oil worker, are missing, he said.
A third American, a Chevron oil worker, was injured by gunfire in the attack and is in stable condition at a Chevron medical facility, the firm said.
Suspend production
The deaths came as a blow to plans to restart oil production in an area of the delta near Warri which foreign oil companies evacuated in March last year after fighting between local ethnic groups.
"We have to suspend the resumption of production in these facilities until the security of our people can be confidently established," Haastrup said.
A spokesperson for the local state government, Sheddy Ozoene, confirmed the incident: "Two Americans were killed. That is the information we have from the security agencies involved.
"Some navy personnel were killed, and some were injured. They will not confirm the exact number until they have recovered the bodies," he said.
"It happened between Dibi and Olero. There were company staff working for Chevron moving between two locations when they ran into pirates who forcefully attacked the naval patrol that was escorting them," he added.
Many dead and injured
The spokesperson said that the gang had attempted to seize the patrol's weapons and ammunition and that a gunfight had erupted, leaving many dead and injured.
A military spokesperson confirmed that there had been an incident, but could not immediately give details. The US embassy said it was investigating.
Chevron Nigeria's managing director, Jay Pryor, said: "My heart goes out to the families of the victims of this tragic event."
The workers were on the Benin River inspecting oil facilities which were abandoned in March last year, when fighting erupted between the Ijaw and the Itsekiri, rival ethnic groups living in delta fishing villages.
Tensions between the Itsekiri and the Ijaw and between local people and oil firms have been mounting in recent weeks after six months of relative calm.
Last week, suspected Itsekiri militants ambushed a boat carrying 10 Ijaw civilians to market in Warri, killing at least one of them.
Meanwhile a joint military taskforce sent to keep peace in the area has over the past two weeks fought on several occasions with river pirates attempting to hijack oil company barges, leaving at least seven dead.