Photos of kidnapped oil workers released

LAGOS, Nigeria, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- Two British oil company workers being held by Nigerian rebels in the country's Niger Delta region appear to be in good health, a British newspaper says.

The Daily Telegraph said Tuesday it had received photographs of Robin Hughes and Matthew Maguire from their kidnappers, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta and they appeared to be in good health with no obvious signs of injuries despite their four-month ordeal.

It was the first evidence the pair were still alive since their Sept. 9 abduction, and was accompanied by an e-mail from a spokesman for the group who said they would be held until the suspected leader Henry Okah, now on trial for treason and gun-running, is released by the Nigerian government.

The Telegraph said it is believed that Okah is seriously ill, and the e-mail, signed with the pseudonym Jomo Gbomo, said, "God forbid that Henry Okah should die in detention."

A message was also included from Hughes, who told his four children, "Daddy loves and misses you all terribly," the newspaper said.