'British oil worker kidnapped by armed gang'

At least one Briton is believed to be among four foreign oil workers kidnapped by an armed gang in Nigeria.

They were taken from an offshore oil facility operated by Royal Dutch Shell.

A company employee in Nigeria said: "We had four people taken from a facility here yesterday. They were on one of our vessels in the field."

It was still unclear who was responsible for the kidnapping, he said.

He could not confirm their nationalities but local reports suggested one, possibly two, of the hostages were British.

A Shell spokesman said: "The four were abducted from a support vessel in the EA field following an approach of armed vessels or small boats yesterday afternoon.

"No fatalities were reported. We immediately reported the incident to the authorities and are co-operating with them."

The spokesman could not confirm the nationalities or identities of the hostages.

The EA field is in the Niger Delta area in southern Nigeria.