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Hostage negotiators seeking the release of two New Zealand oil workers snatched by gunmen in Nigeria have demanded proof the men are still alive.
But they have said the gunmen seemed calm and unlikely to harm their captives, the wife of kidnapped New Plymouth man Bruce Klenner told The Press newspaper.
The kidnappers made contact with the men's employer, Lone Star Drilling, for a second time yesterday morning but have yet to make any demands, she said.
Mr Klenner, 47, of New Plymouth, and Brent Goddard, 49, of Wellington, were abducted from their drilling platform in the Niger Delta on Wednesday morning.
Three other men - from Australia, Lebanon and Venezuela - were also taken.
Lone Star manager David "Herb" Hooper, also a New Zealander, phoned Mr Klenner's wife, Linda, from Nigeria yesterday to tell her of the latest contact with her husband's captors.
"They have been talking to the people they think are responsible, and Herb was really pleased with the dialogue," she said.
"It was clear, it was concise and the guy sounded extremely level-headed and calm. That is a relief. You don't want some nutter on the end of a shotgun," she told The Press.
"At the moment they (Lone Star) really just want proof they are alive . . . They (the gunmen) haven't asked for anything.
"Herb said to me once things get moving it is going to happen really quick. They'll ring and it's over."
Mr Goddard's partner, Gilly Sannazzaro, said yesterday that she had been phoned by Mr Hooper who told her it was now "a waiting game".
"It is difficult being patient, and I'm not a patient person by any means, so this is really testing me to the limits," she said.
The next contact with the kidnappers was not expected until today.
The Niger Delta has been at the centre of a long confrontation between the Nigerian Government and militants fighting for a larger share of oil resources for locals.
No group has publicly claimed responsibility for the abductions of the oil workers, or three-year-old British girl Margaret Hill, who was snatched on Thursday from a car while on her way to school.
However Margaret's kidnappers have been in contact with her parents and threatened to kill her if a ransom is not paid, Reuters reported.
The girl's mother Oluchi Hill said the kidnappers had called to demand money. The amount was not clear.
Speaking by telephone from her home in Port Harcourt, she said she had been allowed to talk to her daughter briefly.
"She was crying. She said they gave her only water. She wants to come back," Oluchi Hill said, weeping as she spoke.
The caller "said he doesn't care about killing and burying the baby", she said.
About 200 foreigners, mostly oil workers, have been kidnapped in the region since the beginning of 2006. Most have been freed after a few days or weeks, and often a ransom is paid.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has advised New Zealanders against travel to the Niger Delta citing "extreme risk" to personal safety.
- NZPA, REUTERS
