The security situation has been resolved on a Nigerian oil rig where an Irishman was yesterday reported to be among 80 people taken hostage.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said there had been a security alert at the Exxon Mobile rig on the Yoho Platform off the Nigerian coast yesterday; the exact details were unclear.
A spokeswoman said the Department had been contacted last night by the family of Jim Kiely (54), a rig engineer from east Cork, who were concerned for his safety.
But she said the situation had been resolved when Mr Kiely contacted his family to assure them he was no longer in danger.
News that something was wrong on the rig emerged yesterday when Mr Kiely himself e-mailed a former colleague in Dublin to alert him to get in touch with his wife.
RTÉ received a copy of an e-mail that had apparently been sent by Mr Kiely to Exxon-Mobil employees.
It read: "Urgent this is not a joke, 80 expatriates are being held hostage on the Yoho oil gas platform. The platform has been taken over by 300 Nigerian rebels. We have been refused permission to leave the platform. Communications have been severed."
But the Exxon Mobile oil company yesterday insisted there had been no hostage situation on the oil rig at any time.
A spokeswoman said there had been a "brief stoppage" earlier this week on the platform but that the situation had been resolved.