Four kidnapped US nationals freed in Nigeria

LAGOS (AFP) - Four US nationals kidnapped this month in oil-rich southern Nigeria have been freed, an official source said Thursday.

"The four Americans subcontracting for Chevron were released," Sheddy Ozoene, spokesman for the outgoing state administration, told AFP.

There was no immediate confirmation either from US Embassy officials or from the men's employer, Carlyss Louisiana-based Global Industries inc.

The four men, identified by News Agency of Nigeria as Mike Russel, Larry Slake, Chris Gay et Kevin Saller, were handed over to the new governor of Delta State Emmanuel Uduaghan, in the state capital Warri.

The men were seized May 8 from the DLB Cheyenne, a construction vessel off Nigeria's oil-rich southern coast, in an attack by almost 40 gunmen that left one Nigerian crew member and three Nigerian naval personnel with light injuries.