Pirates taking hijacked Bangladeshi ship to Somalia coast: Crew

Staff Correspondent

Publisted at 12:55 PM, Wed Mar 13th, 2024

Bangladeshi ship MV Abdullah, which was hijacked by pirates yesterday with 23 crew members onboard in the Indian Ocean, is reportedly being taken to the coast of Somalia, according to voice messages sent by the hostages to their owners.

Mizanul Islam, media adviser at KSRM Group, the parent company of SR Shipping Limited that owns the ship, confirmed to Bangladesh First about the audio messages today (13 March).

The ship’s Chief Officer Atiq Ullah Khan said in a audio message that, “Around 10:30 am (local time), we observed a high-speed boat approaching our ship. We set off an alarm and issued an SOS, an internationally recognised distress signal mostly used by ships at sea to call for help. We also tried to contact the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, but they didn’t receive our call. In the meantime, the pirates boarded our ship.”

He said the pirates fired blanks after boarding the ship, creating panic among the crew.

“Around 15-20 pirates boarded our ship in phases. After a while, an Iranian fishing vessel which was hijacked a month ago came to the scene. The pirates collected fuel from our ship for the fishing vessel which ran out of fuel,” said Atiq Khan.

However, they didn’t harm any crew or the ship, the chief officer added.

MV Abdullah, formerly known as Golden Hawk, was added to the fleet of KSRM Group last year.

It sailed from Maputo in Mozambique to Al Hamriyah in the UAE with 55,000 tonnes of coal and 23 crew members.

Eleven of the 23 crew are from Chattogram, two are from Noakhali, and the rest are from Faridpur, Tangail, Naogaon, Khulna, Netrakona, Laxmipur, Feni, Natore, Sirajganj, and Barishal. KSRM Group’s media advisor, Mizanul Islam, confirmed the audio message.

Mizanul Islam said, "Safety of sailors is our biggest priority. The sailors of the Jahan Moni ship, which had earlier been captured by pirates, were also safely brought home. Efforts are being made to bring the sailors of the MV Abdullah ship to safety."

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