Six oil workers were kidnapped from a vessel off Nigeria's coast today, according to industry sources.
The workers - three Americans, two Britons and a South African - were taken from a pipe-laying vessel owned by Texas-based Transcoastal, on contract to Nigerian oil company Conoil, off the coast of the southern state of Bayelsa.
The latest abduction to hit Africa's oil giant took place in southern Bayelsa state, said the leader of an unarmed, government-funded group that helps provide security in the state.
Elsewhere, gunmen kidnapped a Polish engineer near the oil city of Warri in the Niger Delta, bringing the number of foreign hostages to 22.
Abductions for ransom or to press political demands are frequent in the impoverished Niger Delta, home to Africa' biggest oil industry.
Militants have demanded regional control over oil revenues, compensation for decades of oil spills and freedom for two jailed leaders from the region. But most abductions are motivated by money.
About 100 foreigners have been kidnapped this year and released unharmed after their employers paid ransoms.