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Pirates kill Eni oil worker in Bayelsa

By on July 28, 2012

Pirates killed at least one oil worker in an attack on a boat owned by Italian energy firm Eni’s local subsidiary Agip in Nigeria’s Niger Delta on Friday, the military said.

“The boat conveying some staff of Agip was attacked by sea robbers and one of the staff of the company died when he was attempting to escape and drowned,” Onyema Nwachukwu, spokesman for Nigeria’s military joint task force, told Reuters.

Two other Agip staff were missing after the attack in the Tarabora creek in Bayelsa state, said Nwachukwu.

Pirates off the coast of Nigeria tend to raid ships for cash and cargo rather than hijacking the crews for ransom like their counterparts off the coast of Somalia

But onshore kidnapping is a major business in Nigeria, especially in oil producing coastal areas like Bayelsa.

West Africa is a worsening piracy hotspot. Attacks in the Gulf of Guinea have increased in recent months as the area, spanning a dozen countries, is a growing source of oil, cocoa and metals being shipped to the world’s markets.