Kidnappers on Tuesday released an American and a Briton seized by gunmen last week from a ship off Nigeria's oil-rich southern coast, government and company officials said, according to The Associated Press. The two men taken hostage Thursday were working for a Norwegian firm, Petroleum Geo-Services. After they were freed, they were transported by authorities to Yenagoa, capital of the state of Bayelsa, said Ekiyor Welson, spokesman for the local state government. The boat belonging to Petroleum Geo-Services was working with oil giant Chevron Corp. to map the seabed for potential petroleum deposits when gunmen raided it and fled in speedboats. «They have been released today. They're already in Yenagoa,» Welson said Tuesday by telephone from the state capital, giving no other details. American Jim Brazel and Briton Martin Maddieson told reporters in Yenagoa they had been treated well by their captors and were glad to be free.
