Islamic State militants in Libya seized a group of foreigners at the al-Ghani oilfield last week, a spokesman for the Austrian foreign ministry said today.
“Secure information” revealed they were alive when taken, he added.
There has been no sign since of the nine oil workers from Austria, the Czech republic, Bangladesh, the Philippines and at least one African country who went missing, the spokesman said.
He added: “We know that they were not injured when they were transported away from the al-Ghani oilfield.
He said Austria had information the group was taken by Islamic State militants.
Foreigners have increasingly become targets in Libya’s turmoil, where two rival governments are battling for control and Islamist extremists have grown in the chaos that followed Muammar Gaddafi’s ousting four years ago.
Elsewhere, the US embassy in Riyadh said today it was aware of a possible plot to attack employees working with oil giant Chevron in Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil supplier