Officials from the Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Commerce and relevant companies greeted nine Chinese workers yesterday at the Beijing Capital International Airport, after their kidnapping ordeal for 11 days in Nigeria.

On January 25, an unidentified armed group launched an attack upon a project operated by a Chinese oil company in southern Nigeria's Bayelsa State and kidnapped the workers. Following diplomatic efforts, the workers were safely set free last Sunday.

"The Chinese government expressed gratitude to the Nigerian authorities and relevant parties involved in their release," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said, adding that all Chinese workers employed overseas should better protect themselves.

Conditions in Nigeria seem to be worsening as this latest attack occurred a mere four days after five other kidnapped Chinese telecom workers returned to Beijing from Nigeria.

The previous five were seized in the State of Rivers on January 5 and were held hostage for 13 days.

The number of attacks on oil producing facilities and of the kidnapping of foreigners has both rapidly increased in Nigeria of late, leading to a sharp drop in oil production.

Last year, China handled more than 30,000 consular cases abroad, Foreign Ministry statistics revealed, up from 29,000 in 2005.

The rise is mainly due to the continued rise in travel as Chinese go abroad for business, holidays, education or employment.

Last year, around 400 special notices on outbound travel were released online by the Foreign Ministry.

The ministry further created a special consular protection division under the authority of the Department of Consular Affairs on May 29 last year. The division aims to specifically protect the interests of Chinese nationals traveling to potentially dangerous countries.

It has already helped evacuate citizens from East Timor, Tonga and the Solomon Islands.

(China Daily February 8, 2007)