Pirates brought interpreter long 10 days after taking hostage: MV Abdullah crew
The pirates got off the ship in three groups — one group in the afternoon, another in the evening, and the rest left the ship after 12 o'clock at night
Ten days after taking hostage, the pirates brought an interpreter from Somalia to the Bangladeshi flag carrier MV Abdullah ship.
"The interpreter, terming the ship owners good people, informed us that the owners have already contacted them several times [and assured them of meeting their demands] and we will be released very soon," Ayub Khan, engine cadet of the MV Abdullah, told journalists yesterday after returning to his home in Lakshmipur district.
Ayub, son of Azhar Mia of village Rakhalia under Raipur upazila of the district, said, after 33 days of captivity, marked by various incidents and uncertainty, on 14 April, bags of ransom money for the pirates were dropped onto the ship by a helicopter. The pirates then divided the dollars into three parts. In three groups and at three different times, the pirate gang left the ship."
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He went on to say, "They [who came to drop off the ransom] did a head count before air-dropping the ransom money from the helicopter. At first, there were 22 of us, and our captain was not on the ship's deck at that time. For this reason, the ransom bags were not dropped at first.
"Later, when our captain arrived, then the helicopter started dropping the dollar bags. Three bags were dropped one after the other. It was around 11 o'clock in the morning at that time. Then the pirates divided the money among themselves.
"Then they got off the ship in three groups — one group in the afternoon, another in the evening, and the rest left the ship after 12 o'clock at night."
Cadet Ayub said the next morning, two ships reached the scene to provide security for them. "They escorted us through the 'high-risk' area of Somalia. Then we went to Dubai. After a long journey, we arrived in Bangladesh on 14 May."
Ayub's elder brother Omar Farooq Raju and mother Homaira Begum said Ayub's father passed away about a month before the hostage-taking incident. When they came to know that 23 sailors including Ayub had fallen into the hands of Somali pirates, the entire family plunged into profound sadness, they said. However, with the news of his return, a wave of joy has once again swept through the entire family, they said.
The MV Abdullah, carrying 55,000 tons of coal from Mozambique to Dubai, was hijacked by Somali pirates on 12 March, along with its 23 crew members.
