Beijing - China's foreign ministry on Friday confirmed that three Chinese construction workers were kidnapped in southern Nigeria and said the government was trying to secure their release. The Chinese embassy in Nigeria was "exerting all efforts with relevant parties to rescue the three workers", who were seized by unidentified abductors on Tuesday in Calabar, the capital of Cross River State, spokesman Qin Gang said in a statement posted on the ministry's website.
The official Xinhua news agency said the workers were employees of the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation and were seized near the company's compound in Calabar.
The agency quoted a company official as saying the kidnapping took place on Tuesday afternoon as the three workers were travelling by vehicle to their accommodation.
The workers' vehicle was found abandoned about two hours later with a letter from the kidnappers inside demanding an unspecified ransom for the return of the workers, the agency said.
The company was negotiating with the kidnappers in cooperation with Nigerian police, it said.
Chinese workers have been targeted in several previous kidnappings in Nigeria, mostly in the oil-rich Niger Delta.
Nine kidnapped Chinese oil workers were released safely in February 2007, 11 days after they were abducted from their company premises by Niger Delta militants.
