London - The chief executive of Granger Telecom, the company which employs four engineers taken hostage in Chechnya, yesterday claimed the nature of the deal there had made the risks worth taking.
Diplomats were yesterday working to secure the release of the three Britons and one New Zealander seized from a house in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, by a 20-man squad after a shoot-out with their bodyguards. The engineers, Mr Darren Hickey (26), Mr Peter Kennedy (46), Mr Rudolf Petschi (42) and New Zealand-born Mr Stan Shaw (58) were working in Chechnya against the advice of the Foreign Office.
Mr Hickey was a frequent visitor to his father Eamonn's hometown of Daingean, Co Offaly. His mother Maura came from Carraroe, Co Galway. The couple moved to England about 30 years ago and worked in construction and the bar trade. Mr Darren Hickey, who was 26 last August, was born in England and travelled on a British passport.