Nigerian navy to rescue oil rig hostages

Nigerian warships and helicopters were preparing today to rescue 97 foreigners being held hostage on offshore oil rigs.

A senior navy official said the captives “should be rescued” imminently. However, it was unclear if that meant a raid or some sort of organised surrender by the hostage-takers.

A pilot for a private helicopter company said he and other crew members had been asked to be ready for a possible air evacuation from the rigs later today.

About 100 oil workers have been holding the hostages - including 17 Americans and one Canadian – since April 19 aboard four drilling rigs owned by Houston-based Transocean.

The rigs are stationed about 20 miles off Nigeria’s coast.

The strikers were protesting at a company decision to transport Nigerian workers to the oil platforms by helicopter instead of boat. They were also angry over the dismissal of five union members for alleged insubordination.

Transocean has said the captured oil workers are not ”hostages”, instead describing the crisis as an illegal wildcat strike. However several Western diplomats, a British union group and some of the captured men themselves have insisted that they are being held captive.

Talks between oil company and union officials broke off yesterday after about four hours, with Peter Akpatason, president of Nigeria’s largest oil union, angrily accusing company and government officials of planning to use force to end the stand-off.

“If they use force and hurt any of our members, we will hurt the economy,” Akpatason warned without elaborating.