Efforts underway but no certainty of when crew will be rescued: State minister for shipping

Efforts are underway to rescue the crew members of MV Abdullah, which has been taken hostage by Somali pirates, said State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury.

However, the time required to rescue them cannot be ascertained now, the state minister told journalists at the Secretariat today (13 March).

The captors are not normal people, they are pirates said Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury while adding that "There are some organisations who can contact the pirates … At any cost, we are bound to rescue the crew and ship," he said.

He also said, "The ship is 600 nautical miles off the Somalia coast. We cannot identify them as Somali just yet, we don't know their identity. It can be said they are from that region."

The prime minister has informed the foreign ministry and other relevant authorities to safely bring back the crew.

"We want to bring back the crew to the country at any cost and as fast as possible," he added.

Regarding the threat on the lives of the crew, the state minster said they did not get any official information of the pirates threatening to kill the crews for ransom.

The Bangladeshi-flagged ocean-going vessel named MV ABDULLAH, which was going to Dubai from Mozambique, carrying 23 crew members, was hijacked by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean on Monday (11 March) morning.

The vessel is owned by SR Shipping, a Chattogram-based company owned by KSRM Group.

Meanwhile, authorities concerned said it might take days before an operation can be launched to rescue the hijacked ship and its crew.

Shahriar Jahan Rahat, deputy managing director of KSRM Group, told The Business Standard that the company will give the utmost importance in rescuing the 23 crew members on board when the communication process starts.