By Dulue Mbachu
Sept. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Two Britons were among five foreign oil workers abducted by unknown gunmen in Nigeria's southern oil region earlier this week.
``There were two Britons seized on Tuesday and we're in touch with the Nigerian authorities to press for their release,'' James McLaughlin, a spokesman for the British High Commission in Nigeria, said by phone today from Abuja.
The oil workers were seized by gunmen during an attack on their vessel on Sombreiro River, McLaughlin said, without giving any more details.
Two South Africans working in the oil region were also among those abducted, South Africa's Foreign Affairs Ministry said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. Agence France Presse reported yesterday that 13 people, including five foreigners and eight Nigerians, were taken hostage in the attack.
More than 200 foreign oil workers have been seized in attacks targeting Nigeria's oil industry since 2006, with most of them freed unharmed by kidnappers who often demanded ransoms. The attacks have cut more than 20 percent of Nigeria's oil exports.
To contact the reporter on this story: Dulue Mbachu in Lagos via Johannesburg at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net.
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