Police name British hostage killed in rescue bid

A British oil worker killed during a rescue attempt after being taken hostage from an oil ship off the coast of southern Nigeria has been named by Cleveland Police as David Hunt, 58, from Teesside.

Cleveland Police said the dead man was from the Middlesbrough area.

Mr Hunt was among seven foreign oil workers taken hostage.

An Italian man was also wounded during the bungled rescue attempt by the Nigerian Navy, which left two of the kidnappers and a soldier dead.

Gunmen seized the seven hostages overnight from a supply vessel belonging to a subsidiary of the Italian oil giant Eni SpA off the coast of southern Nigeria in the latest attack by militants on oil facilities in the energy-rich region.