23 crew members in hijacked ship are in good health: Khurshed Alam
Foreign ministry’s acting secretary has said the 23 Bangladeshi mariners in MV Abdullah ship, which has been hijacked by Somali pirates, are in good health.
Rear admiral (retd) Md Khurshed Alam told journalists that around 60 pirates are in the hijacked ship.
He briefed the journalists following an inter-ministerial meeting at the foreign ministry about freeing the hostages at the ministry today, Thursday.
Acting secretary chaired the inter-ministerial meeting.
“Our primary goal is to free the ship along with the crew members. We wouldn’t deviate from this target,” he told the journalists.
Khurshed Alam also briefed about the experience of freeing all Bangladeshi crew members unharmed from hijacked Bangladeshi ship ‘Jahan Moni’ and Malaysian-owned ship ‘Albedo’ in the past.
Asked if the pirates demanded any ransom, Khurshed Alam said, “It is baseless if any news media publishes anything about ransom. They did not demand any ransom yet from us, and yet to communicate about it.”
He said the ship was not sailing in a risky route.
“The pirates took over the ship and anchored near Somalia this morning. The pirates have not contacted us yet. We have learnt from different sources that around 60 pirates are in the ship and all 23 Bangladeshi crew members are safe.”
He said, “We have the experience of dealing with such a situation as a ship named Jahan Moni was hijacked in 2010. We successfully brought back the ship with all sailors.”
The acting secretary also reminded that Bangladeshi crew members were brought back safely from hijacked Malaysian-owned ‘Al Bedo’ ship through the Kenyan Army.
About the government’s initiative, he said, “We have been trying sincerely. Foreign ministry has been maintaining regular contact with the state minister for shipping, director general of the shipping department and owner of the ship.”
"We are yet to know about the demands of the pirates. Even if we do, we won’t be able to disclose the matter fully with the media due to strategic reasons.”
He said the preparation has already been started in light of the experiences of ‘Jahan Moni' and ‘Al-Bedo’.
“So this would take time,” he added.