Hijacked Bangladeshi Ship Anchors Near Somalian Port

According to the Bangladesh Merchant Marine Officers' Association (BMMOA), the hijacked Bangladeshi-flagged cargo ship has now anchored approximately 20 miles off the port of Garacad in Somalia.

This updated position was verified by a global shipping source monitoring its movements, as stated by Md Shakawat Hossain, General Secretary of BMMOA, around 1:00pm.

The vessel, owned by SR Shipping Limited, a subsidiary of KSRM, dropped anchor around 20 miles away from the Somali port, according to Mizanul Islam, the media adviser for KSRM.

As of now, there has been no communication from the pirates to the ship owners, as mentioned by Mizanul Islam. It is anticipated that it might take several days before any communication is initiated by the pirates.

Earlier, at approximately 6:00am, the ship was reported to be about 72 nautical miles off the port of Garacad and was heading towards the coastline.

In response to the situation, an inter-ministerial meeting is scheduled at the foreign ministry in Dhaka to discuss the safe rescue of the MV Abdullah and its 23 crew members. The objective of the meeting is to ensure the safety and well-being of the crew and to devise strategies for their safe return, as outlined in a letter signed by Md Iftekhar Rahman, senior assistant secretary (Africa).

Acting Foreign Secretary Rear Admiral (Retd) Md Khurshed Alam will chair the meeting, according to the letter.

The ship, which was transporting 58,000 tonnes of coal from Maputo in Mozambique to Al Hamriyah in the UAE, was hijacked by suspected Somali pirates on Tuesday.