A South Korean worker was shot and wounded in an armed robbery in Nigeria’s oil-rich delta region, but the injury was not life-threatening, officials said on Wednesday.
The worker from Hyundai Heavy Industries was shot in the thigh when 16 gunmen aboard two boats approached the vessel he was traveling on with nine others, the South Korean Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
A Dutch national and a Nigerian were killed and six others, including the South Korean worker, were wounded in the attack as they traveled from Port Harcourt to Bonny Island in the southern delta, it added. The gunmen removed goods from the boat after the attack.
It was unclear who opened fire first.
Rivers State police spokesperson Irejua Barasua earlier confirmed the assault, without giving details.
Hyundai Heavy Industries is building an oil refinery in Nigeria.
Despite producing tens of billions of dollars in oil revenue every year, the delta region remains deeply impoverished.
Attacks on foreign workers by armed robbers, kidnappers and militants demanding a greater share of the country’s oil wealth are common.
A series of bombings and kidnappings in the Delta region has shut down nearly a quarter of oil output in Africa’s largest oil producer for nearly a year. At least 18 foreign hostages have been taken in the last two months, nine of which remain in captivity. – Sapa-AP