Bangladeshi cargo vessel MV Abdullah, which was hijacked by Somali pirates with 23 crew members on board, anchored at Hobyo port in Somalia on Thursday.
MV Abdullah dropped anchors there at that port at around 2pm, Director General of the Department of Shipping Commodore Mohammad Maksud Alam told reporters.
He said, “However, the pirates have not contacted the owners and made any demand to them.”
He hoped that the pirates would contact Bangladesh authorities soon.
On Tuesday, several dozen armed pirates took control of the ship, carrying coal from Mozambique’s Maputo port to Al Hamriyah Port in the UAE, around noon. During the hijacking, the vessel was 700 nautical miles off Mogadishu in Somalia, according to media reports.
MV Abdullah is owned by SR Shipping Lines, a sister company of Chattogram-based Kabir Steel and Rerolling Mill (KSRM) Group.
KSRM spokesperson Mizanul Islam told reporters that the vessel had dropped anchor about 20 miles from the Somalian port. The pirates are yet to communicate with the ship owners.
It may take two to three days or even more to get the first response from pirates, he said.
KSRM Group Deputy Managing Director Shahriar Jahan Rahat said that they will give the utmost importance to rescuing the 23 crew members when communication begins.
Meanwhile, Rear Admiral (retd) Khurshed Alam, the secretary of the Maritime Affairs Unit at the foreign ministry, on Thursday said that the 23 Bangladeshi sailors were safe and that the top priority was to bring them back with the ship.
The government has started working on this issue. Discussions with various third-party groups are ongoing in a bid to rescue the hijacked ship, he said while briefing the media after attending an inter-ministerial meeting regarding the hijack at the ministry.
“But, we can't give any specific timeline to this effect," he added.
He also mentioned that no ransom has been demanded by the pirates yet and that they have not communicated anything about it. He confirmed that the ship did not take a high-risk route. The pirates took over the ship and took it to Somalia, anchoring near the country.
Khurshed also shared that they have prior experience in handling such incidents. In 2010, another ship named Jahan Moni faced a similar incident, and after 100 days, the authorities were able to bring back the ship with all its sailors.
Furthermore, he mentioned that when the Malaysian ship Al-Bedo was hijacked by pirates, there were seven Bangladeshis, two Iranians, three Indians, two Pakistanis and five Sri Lankan sailors on board. Unfortunately, the Malaysian owner did not take any responsibility.
"We worked throughout and after about three years and four months we negotiated with the Kenyan army and rescued the Bangladeshi sailors unharmed," said Khurshed.
