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Youths free hostages, leave oil rig

    LAGOS

    Militants in southern Nigeria have freed 43 oil workers after holding them hostage for four days on an offshore oil rig, ChevronTexaco, the US transnational for which the hostages worked, said on Friday.

    "The youths left the rig on Wednesday night and the hostages were freed unharmed," a senior company official told IRIN.

    Some 40 youths from the Ilaje community, to the west of the Niger Delta, had boarded the rig on Sunday and held 88 foreign and Nigerian workers hostage to press demands for jobs and amenities.

    ChevronTexaco officials said the rig was about eight km offshore.

    Following negotiations with ChevronTexaco officials and local leaders, 45 of the hostages were allowed to leave on Tuesday. The rest were released on the following day. Officials would not reveal details of the deal made with the militants to end the stand-off.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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