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The Department of Foreign Affairs Sunday instructed the Philippine Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria, to check on the reported abduction of six Filipino seamen from an oil service vessel plying the African country's southern oil delta.
The foreign office said Philippine officials in Nigeria were coordinating with state authorities. Wire reports said armed men boarded the vessel on Saturday and took the six hostages, including the boat's captain and two engineers.
The incident occurred on the same day 14 Filipino seamen abducted in August off the Horn of Africa returned home to Manila.
With 82 Filipinos still being held by Somali pirates, the latest abductions in the Niger Delta brings to 88 the number of Filipino seamen now held hostage in Africa.
More than 200 foreign workers of various nationalities have been kidnapped in nearly three years of rising violence across Nigeria. Hostages are normally released unharmed after ransom is paid. The violence has hit crude output in Africa's biggest producer.
Off the Somali coast, some governments have resorted to commando strikes against the rebels that have been engaged in kidnap-for-ransom attacks on the Gulf of Aden since early this year.
