Shawdesh dEsk:

The hijacked Bangladeshi-flagged cargo vessel ‘MV Abdullah’ started moving from the Somalia coast on Friday which was anchored at seven nautical miles away from the shore on Thursday.

‘Around 3:30pm this afternoon, we came to know that the ship started moving from Somalia’s coast,  and all hostage crew were safe and secure,’ Mizanul Islam, spokesperson of the ship’s owning company, SR Shipping, told New Age.

‘All families remained anxious and passing day thinking about the safety of crew members on board. We maintained daily communication with them and console for a safe rescue. The updated information also got one of the families,’ Mizan added.

The owner group is ready to ‘negotiate’ with the pirates, but they did not communicate with them yet, said Mizan.

The ship has moved further towards North from the Somali coast where they anchored yesterday, confirmed Shakawat Hossain, general secretary of the Bangladesh Merchant Marine Officers’ Association.

On Tuesday, a gang of pirates attacked the MV Abdullah when it headed for Al Hamriyah Port in the United Arab Emirates, carrying cargo loaded with coal from Mozambique’s Maputo port.

The vessel, belonging to the Bangladeshi organisation SR Shipping Lines, a sister concern of Chattogram-based Kabir Steel and Rerolling Mill Group, has 23 crew members on board.

The vessel was carrying around 58 thousand tonnes of coal. SR Shipping chief executive officer Meherul Karim said that in December 2010, Somali pirates hijacked the company’s vessel,  MV Jahan Moni, in the Arabian Sea and took 25 sailors hostage, among others. They were freed from the pirates two and a half months later and brought back home.

On Thursday secretary Khurshid said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was in constant communication with all parties, including the state minister for Shipping, the director general of the Department of Shipping, and ship owners.

The European Union Naval Force, in a statement, said that Operation ATALANTA continued monitoring the piracy event involving the Bangladesh-flagged bulk carrier.

The initial position of the ship was 600NM east of Mogadishu, Somalia. The last known position is 0641N-04719E, where the vessel is anchored, it said.

Three camps of alleged pirate groups have been identified in different areas in the north, centre and south of the Somali coast. From the camps, they support hijacking operations, the statement noted.