Gunmen who kidnapped a three-year-old British girl in southern Nigeria have threatened to kill her and said they are feeding her only bread and water, the girl’s mother says.

Margaret Hill, the daughter of oil worker Mike Hill, was snatched from the back seat after the Jeep carrying her to school was surrounded by masked gunmen in Port Harcourt, in the lawless south of the country around the Niger delta.

"The people who are holding her just called again and they were threatening to kill the baby," said Oluchi Hill, Margaret’s mother, by telephone from Port Harcourt. She was crying as she spoke.

"They accused me of trying to play games with them," added Mrs Hill. "They said they had given her only water and bread this morning." The kidnappers told her they wanted money.

Mrs Hill said the line had cut off during the conversation and she did not want to stay on the phone for long in case the kidnappers called again.

Earlier, Mrs Hill told the BBC that the abductors had called yesterday morning and told her that they would hand Margaret back in exchange for her father. They demanded a meeting in a town in the Niger Delta, then allowed her to speak to her daughter, who was crying.

She said that the kidnappers told her to meet them in a town in Bayelsa State but that neither she nor the police had been able to find out where it was. She said the kidnappers had threatened to kill Margaret if Mr Hill did not come within three hours.

"He wanted to go down for his baby but the police commander told him not to."

Police and diplomats are today frantically working to help secure Margaret’s release.

Kidnappers smashed a window and grabbed the toddler as the car waited at a red light in heavy morning traffic on the busy Ada George highway. Her Nigerian driver was stabbed several times in the arm.

Reports have suggested the kidnappers are in contact with Margaret’s father, Mr Hill, who has lived in Nigeria for 10 years, is originally from Murton in Co Durham. He is not employed by one of the major oil companies, but instead, runs a well-known bar in the city, called Goodfellas – until recently a popular haunt of foreign oil workers.

He also works for an oil-supply company, Lone Star, contracted by Royal Dutch Shell to run some of its offshore rigs. One of these was attacked on Wednesday and five expatriate workers were taken hostage. It is not clear whether the two incidents are linked.

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