Fate of oil workers abducted in Libya a mystery

MANILA: Four Filipinos are among nine foreigners abducted from an oil field in central Libya and their still unidentified armed abductors have yet to communicate any demand, officials said yesterday.

Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose said the Philippines was working with the employer of the nine, Austrian-owned VAOS Oil Service, the Libyan government and embassies of the other foreigners abducted on Friday. An Austrian, a Czech, two Bangladeshis and a Ghana national were also taken.

Austria’s Foreign Ministry believes the attackers are Islamic State-allied militants from nearby Sirte, but Jose said that was still uncertain.

Three other Filipinos were snatched in another oil field on February 3 and their whereabouts also remain unknown. “These cases underscore the escalating threat to… Filipino oil workers in Libyan oil fields, which have been targeted by armed groups in recent weeks,” Jose said.

He appealed to about 4 000 Filipinos still in Libya to contact the Philippine embassy to avail themselves of the government’s mandatory repatriation programme that covers the cost of travel back home.

The Al-Ghani oil field had suspended operation for two weeks before the attack and most of the workers had left by the time the gunmen arrived there. On Sunday, Philippine diplomats met 52 other Filipino employees of VAOS Oil at the company’s headquarters in Tripoli.

Jose said 36 of the 52 Filipinos want to go home and more are expected to sign up for repatriation in the next few days. – Sapa-AP