Free From Pirates: When MV Abdullah Arrives In Dubai

Freed from Somali pirates, MV Abdullah will arrive in Dubai on April 19-20. There will then be two options for the sailors on board. They can return home by flight or ship.

DMD Shahriar Jahan Rahat informed this in a press conference at KSRM Bhaban, Barik Building intersection of Chattogram city on Sunday (April 14) afternoon.

He said that unfortunately, the same thing happened 14 years after the Jahan Mani ship fell into the hands of pirates. Last March 12, the ship was hijacked by pirates with weapons. After 31 days, the pirates finally left the ship.

DMD said that usually, the pirates want to gain more profit by “targeting the owners”. So we start negotiating the rescue of ships and sailors through third parties. “Our ship was out of the high-risk area. 200 nautical miles is considered as risky. We were at 600 nautical miles. So we did not take arm guard,” he informed.

Thanking Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, he said that “the foreign warship wanted to rescue the ship forcefully”. Our government responded quickly. Journalists also cooperated. The ship is expected to reach the UAE on April 19-20. After that, necessary measures will be taken including bringing the sailors back to the country.

“We lacked knowledge during Jahan Mani’s time. After that, the rescue took more time. Now after taking hostage, we continue to track the location of the ship. After starting contact, we were talking every day. How the sailors are doing, how soon the pirates will leave the ship etc. Two days ago, we had a demand - so we took a video of every sailor. Every act of ransom is done legally. International norms have been followed,” said KSRM CEO Mehrul Karim.

He said that he spoke with the captain at 3:00 am today. There were 65 pirates. They left by boat. Sailors have the option of arriving by flight or by ship. We will bring the ship from Dubai to Chattogram.

KSRM DMD Sarwar Jahan, Director Karim Uddin, and Media Advisor Minhajul Islam were also present at the press conference.

On March 12, the Bangladeshi ship MV Abdullah with 23 sailors was taken hostage by Somali pirates. After 31 days, they left the ship after receiving the ransom money on Saturday afternoon. Then at midnight, the ship with 23 sailors left for the port of the United Arab Emirates.

In 2010, MV Jahan Mani, a ship owned by the same group, was hijacked. After three months, they brought the ship back by paying a ransom.