The four foreign workers taken hostage in Nigeria were released yesterday. Among the freed captives is Bulgarian Milko Nichev. The hostages are in good health, Nigerian government sources said. The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry confirmed the information.
Nichev said in a phone call to his family that he expected to return to Bulgaria in four or five days. He and three other foreign employees of Royal Dutch Shell were kidnapped by rebels from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta. According to official sources, the rebels did not demand a ransom for the kidnapped foreigners.
The 56-year-old Bulgarian marine engineer was taken hostage on January 11 2006. Armed members of the movement attacked the ship, Liberty Service, on which Nichev was working. The rebels demanded $1.5 billion compensation from Royal Dutch Shell for the damage inflicted by petroleum extraction. They also demanded independence for the petroleum-rich Niger River Delta, Novinar newspaper reported.

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