Shawdesh Desk:

Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen on Friday said efforts are underway to bring 28 crew of Bangladeshi ship “Banglar Samriddhi” to Romania from war-ravaged Ukraine.

Talking to reporters at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he also said around 600 Bangladeshis have so far reached Poland from bordering Ukraine fleeing the strife.

In a video message earlier on Thursday, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam said the Bangladeshi crew members had already been taken to a relatively safe place from the ship that came under attack leaving its third engineer dead on Wednesday.

The ship had also been declared abandoned.

The government initially tried to move the crew members to Warsaw, Poland.

The sailors are also carrying with them the body of deceased Hadisur Rahman, a 47-year-old Bangladesh national.

The state minister said the government, in consultation with the Shipping Ministry, will bring back the 28 sailors along with the body of the third engineer if they can safely leave Ukraine.

Bangladesh Ambassador to Poland Sultana Laila Hossain talked to the captain of the ship.

Expressing deep condolences to the near and dear ones of deceased Hadisur, the Russian Embassy in Dhaka on Thursday said the Russian side “bends every effort” to ensure safe departure of the Bangladeshi ship from the port.

The Command of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, relying on the objective monitoring data, has repeatedly stated that, during the retreat, the Ukrainian nationalists open indiscriminate fire and deliberately capture hostages, use them as a “human shield”, resorting to the well-known terrorists’ tactic, said the Embassy.

The BSC ship was positioned in the inner anchorage of Olvia port (Ukraine), when Hadisur was killed due to a missile attack.

“The circumstances of the incident are being established,” said the embassy.

For resolving the humanitarian issues arising from the special military operation in Ukraine, including the requests for evacuation of the civilians, the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation has launched the hotline +7 495 498-34-46, +7 495 498-42-11, +7 495 498-41-09.