PTI

New Delhi, May 20: The two Indian engineers abducted in Nigeria are safe and may be released soon, the wife of one of them said on Sunday. The number was initially reported as three, but the official sources have confirmed it as two.

Lata Kakoty, the wife of kidnapped 32-year-old fire engineer Debashish Kakoty, said from Port Harcourt in Nigeria that her husband's employer, oil exploration company Indorama, had been contacted by the abductors who said the men were safe.

"Officials of the company spoke to my husband a few hours ago today and they told me both men are safe and are likely to be released soon, maybe tomorrow," Lata said.

Indorama's officials did not give her details about the kidnappers or say whether any ransom was being paid for the release of the men, she said.

Kakoty, who hails from Sivasagar town in Assam, and Sunil Dave of Maharashtra were abducted from their residential quarters in Port Harcourt on Saturday morning.

Lata said Kakoty was dragged out of bed by the kidnappers.

In Sivasagar, Kakoty's mother Kumkum said she was praying for the safe return of her son, whom she described as mild natured person who had excelled in debating and quizzing.

"I last spoke to him on Friday when he was about to leave for office. He had then told me he was getting late for office and would call me on Sunday," she said, breaking down.

Kumkum recalled how Kakoty had won a gold medal at an engineers' meet in Kolkata in 2003.

Kakoty, whose father is a retired professor, and Dave were working for Indonesia's Indorama which is the owner of Eleme petrochemical plant near Port Harcourt. Kakoty earlier worked for the Indian Oil Corporation at its Barauni refinery and was posted to Nigeria in September last year after joining Indorama.

He studied fire engineering at the National Fire Service College in Nagpur and secured the second position in his batch. Kakoty and his wife have a year-old son.

The abduction of the Indians is the latest in a string of kidnappings of foreign workers in Nigeria.