India says acting to release abducted oil worker in Sudan

May 23, 2008 (NEW DELHI) — The Indian foreign ministry said two days ago it was exerting all efforts to secure the release of four Indian nationals who were abducted along with their Sudanese driver on May 13 near Heglig.

The Four Indian oil technicians and their Sudanese driver have been abducted in an area adjoining Sudan’s disputed oil rich region of Abyei. The Indian Embassy in Khartoum believed “local tribes” were responsible.

The Indian foreign ministry Wednesday said it had summoned the Sudanese ambassador in Delhi to convey Government of India’s concern over the incident and to urgently secure the release of the four workers.

The Indian Embassy in Khartoum said in daily touch with the authorities concerned there including the Sudanese foreign and interior ministers, the Indian foreign ministry reassured. Adding that Petro Energy owner Mohamed Arif Khan is in touch with the relatives of the four persons in India..

The captives, all men in their 30s, work for Petro Energy Contracting Services, an Indian-owned Sudanese company engaged in providing services to the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company of which the Indian ONGC Videsh is a consortium member.

The company employs 75 Indians in Sudan.

The four captive are P K Abhilash from Kerala, Mohammed Aseeb Shaik from Gorakhpur, Biplab Biswas from Kolkata, and Surjit Singh from Amritsar.

In the past, Darfur rebels have kidnapped foreign oil workers from Sudanese oilfields, often targeting Chinese companies because of their strong ties with Khartoum, although all of the abductees eventually emerged unscathed.

(ST)