British hostage killed in Nigeria

A captive British oil worker was killed and another foreigner was hurt Wednesday during a rescue attempt that also left two kidnappers and a soldier dead, officials said.

Gunmen had seized seven hostages earlier in the day from a supply vessel belonging to a subsidiary of Italian oil giant Eni. The attack, about 30 miles off the coast of southern Nigeria, was the latest by militants on facilities in the volatile Niger Delta, where most of the country’s oil is produced.

Eni said the hostages were two Finns, an Italian, a Filipino, a Briton, a Pole and a Romanian.

An Eni statement said, “During an attempt by the Nigerian navy to free the seven hostages ... there was an exchange of fire during which one hostage was killed and the remaining six, including one wounded one, were freed and taken to a safe place.”

The British Foreign Office confirmed that a British hostage was killed.

The Italian Foreign Ministry confirmed that the Italian hostage suffered injuries that were not life-threatening.

Twenty-five foreign workers and about 60 Nigerian employees were aboard the vessel that was attacked, Eni said.

Most oil workers kidnapped over the last year have been released, many after payment of ransom by the companies and the government, according to security analysts.

In 2004, however, two foreign and five Nigerian subcontractors for Chevron died when their boat was ambushed, and in August, a Nigerian hostage was killed during a botched rescue attempt by the Nigerian navy.