MV Abdullah: Pirates bring in food as stock starts to deplete

As food stock in the hijacked Bangladeshi ship MV Abdullah was depleting, pirates recently started bringing in food.

An official of Bangladesh Merchant Marine Officers' Association (BMMOA), who is closely monitoring the situation, confirmed that the pirates brought in some food.

The ship had a stock of food for 25 days when it was hijacked on March 12.

Contacted, Mizanul Islam, media adviser of KSRM Group, said food was still available for the crewmen and there was no crisis till date.

KSRM is the parent organisation of the ship's owning firm SR Shipping Ltd.

Mizanul said, "If necessary, the pirates would arrange food for the crew members."

He said they had information that the crew were being well treated by the pirates and that they were allowing the crew to stay in their cabins.

A source said KSRM Group officials are holding talks with the pirates through a third party and that the talks were progressing positively. Efforts were being made to end the crisis before Eid, the source said.

According to experts who have experience in merchant marine service, the pirates have now anchored the ship very close to the Somali coast and they are under pressure as European Union Naval Forces recently deployed warships in the vicinity, keeping MV Abdullah under close watch. Somali security forces have also conducted raids to isolate the pirates.

They believe that the parties engaged by the ship's owner would try to take advantage of this situation and if the negotiation went smoothly, the release of the crew members may happen very soon.

Captain Anam Chowdhury, president of BMMOA, said the pirates and the ship's owner have engaged parties who are well experienced in dealing with such negotiations.

If the talks continue, the crisis may end soon, he hoped.