Four Nigerian emergency agency workers were kidnapped on Wednesday as they returned from an assignment in oil-rich Rivers State in southern Nigeria, security sources said.

Three men and a woman woman from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) were snatched, the source said.

"They actually went on an official assignment in the area when the hoodlums struck and abducted them to an unknown destination," said Walson Brandon, local NEMA co-ordinator.

A fifth person, also a NEMA worker, was with the group when it was attacked but managed to escape, he added.

Kidnapping for ransom is rife in Rivers.

Victims are often released after a few days once ransoms are paid.

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