Galway man still being held by militants in southern Nigeria

A 39-year-old Irishman is still being held by Nigerian militants today after he was abducted in the city of Port Harcourt on Sunday night.

Brian Fogarty, from Oughterard in Co Galway, was kidnapped along with two Britons and a Polish man by an armed gang that burst into a bar in the southern oil city.

They escaped with the hostages on a speedboat.

Mr Fogarty had arrived in Nigeria on Saturday to work for the controversial US firm Halliburton.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and the Irish Embassy in Nigeria are monitoring the situation and keeping his family up to date with all the available information.

Sunday's incident was the latest in a spate of kidnappings of foreigners in the oil-rich Niger Delta.

Most of the hostages are eventually freed after their employers pay a ransom to their captives, but the police and Halliburton say they have yet to be contacted by Mr Fogarty’s kidnappers.