IANS
New Delhi: The government on Monday said Nigeria has assured it of the safety of four Indian workers kidnapped by Nigerian militants last week, barely a fortnight after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited the west African nation.
"The Indian high commission in Nigeria is in touch with the Nigerian authorities. All the kidnapped workers are safe," external affairs ministry spokesperson Navtej Sarna told reporters.
Negotiations are going on between the hostage takers and the Italian offshore company they worked for, he added.
He, however, did not answer a question on whether the kidnappers were demanding ransom, as has been the case in the past, saying that this was "a matter between hostage takers and the company involved." Militants are demanding a ransom of $50 million, media reports said.
Four Indians working for Saipem, an Italian oil service company, were kidnapped last week by some unknown gunmen some 28 km from the coast of Bonny, Rivers State in Nigeria.
The kidnapping of four Indian workers took place barely two weeks after Manmohan Singh raised the issue of the safety of Indian workers with Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua when he visited that country.
The Nigerian president had assured Manmohan Singh that all measures would be taken for the safety of Indians, especially in the militancy-hit oil-rich Niger Delta region.
Kidnapping for ransom of Indians working in the oil and steel industries in Nigeria has become a sore point in India and has given a pause to top Indian companies wishing to invest in Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer.
There are an estimated 25,000 Indians living in Nigeria, most of them working in the oil and infrastructure related industry.
In fact, 11 Indian nationals working for a steel firm in central Nigeria's Kogi state were kidnapped nearly a week ahead of Manmohan Singh's visit October 14, but Nigerian authorities moved in quickly and the abducted Indians were freed.
Militancy has become an endemic problem in Nigeria with gun-toting extremists targeting foreigners working in the country for hefty ransom. More than 200 foreigners have been abducted in Nigeria in the last five months.