An Irish man who was released on Wednesday night after being kidnapped from a Nigerian bar almost two weeks ago has described how his captors held him in a wooden hut in a jungle and fed him and his five fellow captives fast food daily.
Speaking from London yesterday for the first time about his ordeal, Bryan Fogerty (39) also revealed that while he feared for his life during the kidnapping, he said he was not maltreated by his kidnappers. He also stressed how thankful he was for the efforts of Irish Embassy staff and others to secure his release, and for the support of friends and family.
He said he would not rule out returning to Nigeria in the future, but plans to start work in about five weeks in Algeria. Mr Fogerty is due to return home to Shannon airport later this afternoon.
It is understood that a ransom of some 35 million Nigerian naira (approximately €220,000) may have been paid to secure the hostages' release. However, a spokeswoman for Halliburton, Mr Fogerty's employer, yesterday refused to comment on details of his release.
Mr Fogerty said he was taken from the bar in the southern city of Port Harcourt at about 11pm on Sunday, August 13th. A man armed with a light machine gun entered the bar and began to fire shots in the air, before ordering Bryan and the other five captives into a Volkswagen, where other armed men were waiting.
"My first reaction was I thought it was an armed robbery. Everyone reacted but I was a bit slower to get down," he told The Irish Times. "They were definitely deliberately targeting the white people in the bar."
He was driven for about 10 minutes, with his captors firing shots in the air. Eventually, the six hostages were bundled on to a boat and told to keep their heads covered. Following another 50-minute journey, they arrived at a jungle clearing.
"You never think it is going to happen to you," he said. "We knew they wouldn't physically harm us, because we're cash to them. The only thing is if we do something stupid."
The six hostages slept on planks of wood and/or thin foam mattresses and were well fed, he said. However, he feared that he may have contracted malaria from the large number of mosquito bites he received.
They were fed a type of noodle, while every day one of the group of some 30 armed captors went to a nearby fast food restaurant and brought them food such as chicken and rice. They were also given bottled water to drink.
The captives were not chained or blindfolded, but on one occasion a row broke out among the captors, leading to several shots being fired, he said.
"All I heard was noise and arguing . . . we were worried because the situation was unstable," Mr Fogerty said. "We were at their mercy."
Another time, the six heard that the negotiations on their release had broken down. This was a real low point, Mr Fogerty said. But last Tuesday night, he met the leader of the group, a stocky, well-built man.
"He asked me 'how would you like to go home', I said 'I would like that very much, sir' - and he said I would be going home the next day," Mr Fogerty said.
"I was absolutely ecstatic . . . I'm a little tired, but I'm glad to be back home . . . I still can't believe it, it is only starting to sink in."