Foreign hostages freed from Nigerian oil rigs

<a href=www.nzherald.co.nz>nzherald.co.nz-Reuters 04.05.2003 11.45am - By DANIEL BALINT-KURTI

PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria - The first batch of freed foreign hostages, seized by striking Nigerian oil workers on offshore rigs more than two weeks ago, docked safely at a mainland port today, witnesses said.

"It was a little difficult but it worked itself out," said a British man in his 30s as he stepped ashore. He declined to give his name as did his colleagues.

The dishevelled looking former captives walked briskly and crowded into two waiting vehicles which sped off into town. Plans for their onward journey were not clear.

The nearly 100 foreign workers, held captive on four oil rigs since April 16, included 35 Britons and 17 Americans.

Louis Perada, a hostage from Venezuela who was ferried to safety by helicopter earlier, said: "At the beginning it was a little bit apprehensive. But it became normal. You don't expect people who have been living with you for two years to harm you."

At the start of the drama, some hostages wrote in e-mails to their spouses of threats by the strikers to blow up the rigs.

Like the others, Perada was taken to the port city of Port Harcourt. It was unclear which rig he had been on.

Most hostages were ferried to safety on the Susan McCall and the Adams Surveyor. Both boats arrived from the M.G. Hulme, one of four rigs operated by Houston-based Transocean Inc. Some 400 people were working on the rigs when they were seized.

About a dozen paramilitary policemen with semi-automatic weapons and horsewhips kept a small crowd of onlookers at bay.

One of the few Nigerians who travelled with the foreigners denied that the expatriates had been hostages.

"They were not hostages," snapped John Bojor.

The strikers agreed on Friday to free their captives after talks convened by the umbrella Nigeria Labour Congress at the request of Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo.

The junior workers, who blocked rig helipads with cranes and drums to cut access by air, had demanded reinstatement for five sacked union officials by Transocean.

Most local rig workers are members of the NUPENG oil union, which helped negotiate the release of the hostages.

Mystery surrounded the situation on the other rigs, with one port official saying phone calls to the platforms were not being answered. He said he was not sure the strike had been completely called off on all platforms.

The agreement called for the evacuation of all the Nigerian rig workers as well, a large-scale operation requiring the use of boats and helicopters.

A port official said he expected a total of about 65 people, mostly foreigners, to arrive from the Hulme on Saturday.

The Hulme is on contract to TotalFinaElf and the other three are drilling for Royal Dutch/Shell. All are in southern Nigeria's Gulf of Guinea.