Uncertainty surrounds fate of Irish hostage
Dorothy Kiely said her 55-year-old husband, Jim had telephoned the family home in Cloyne, Co Cork around 7pm and said over a broken line: “It’s over.”
But the Department of Foreign Affairs last night said they were still waiting confirmation that the alleged incident was over and that they were still continuing their investigations into what had happened.
An Exxon Mobil spokeswoman said that a “brief work stoppage” had taken place off the Nigerian coast but denied employees had been held hostage.
“It is now resolved and there was no impact on production,” she said, refusing to give anymore details.
Mr Kiely, an electrical engineer, is working for Exxon at the Yoho oil rig.
The father-of-three was in Ireland for Christmas and spent the New Year at the family’s summer home in Ardmore, Co Waterford. Mr Kiely is originally from Waterford and is known locally as a Waterford hurling fan. He has worked extensively abroad in Africa and Korea.
Earlier yesterday, his family were made aware that he had sent an e-mail to a family friend saying 80 expatriates on the rig were being held hostage by about 300 Nigerian rebels. He urged the Department of Foreign Affairs to investigate.
The Kiely family contacted the Department of Foreign Affairs who informed the Irish Embassy in the Ethiopian capital of Abuja.
Attacks on foreign oil companies are not uncommon in Nigeria as impoverished locals try to seize equipment and seek large ransoms from kidnappings.
Meanwhile, it has emerged that there were no Irish amongst the four oil workers kidnapped from another Nigerian oil field yesterday.
An armed group boarded a boat in an oil field in the Niger Delta region and abducted four foreign men working for the oil company. It was originally claimed one was Irish.
Shell has not said where the hostages come from but they reportedly include one British national and an American.
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