Suspected Sea Pirates Kill 3 Agip Workers in Bayelsa

By Emmanuel  Addeh in Yenagoa

An armed gang suspected to be sea pirates, have killed three workers of an international oil company, Nigerian Agip Oil Company, NAOC in Bayelsa State.

It wasn’t clear if members of the deadly Niger Delta Avengers were responsible for the attack, but the militants had warned that any attempt to repair bombed oil and gas facilities would be bloody.

However, it was learnt that the victims were carrying out repairs at a work station in the creeks of Nembe around Obama flowstation operated by Eni Oil, a parent company of Agip, when the incident occurred.

A security source who craved anonymity, said the victims were  two engineers and a driver.

He added that the three workers were ambushed and killed along the creeks while carrying out repair work on Agip pipelines that were destroyed some weeks ago by militants in the Niger Delta.

He said, “The sea pirates, who operate in the area, carried out an ambush on the oil workers.  The area is a notorious place where gunmen operate freely.”

The Commandant,  Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Bayelsa State Command, Mr. Desmond Agu, confirmed the attack, saying it took place yesterday.

He said already, the search team of security operatives had recovered two dead bodies and their corpses had been taken to Port Harcourt, Rivers State, by an ambulance.

Agu said, “The search team, made up of civil defence,  Navy, Army, gunboat crew and others left Obama station at 0915 hours yesterday in search of the bodies of the killed Agip personnel.

“At about 1100 hours, the dead bodies of two killed personnel were discovered in Oguama River close to Oguama community in Bayelsa. They were taken to Ogbia jetty for onward movement to Port Harcourt.”