MV Abdullah: Pirates make first contact 9 days after hijacking ship
Nine days after the hijacking of Bangladeshi bulk career MV Abdullah, pirates yesterday made first contact with the ship's owning firm KSRM Group through a third party.
The firm is now hoping for prompt rescue of the 23 crew members kept hostage and the ship as they think the contact will widen the scope for negotiations.
Mizanul Islam, media adviser of the KSRM Group, confirmed that the pirates contacted a third party abroad around noon (Bangladesh time) yesterday.
Refusing to give details about the third party and what the pirates said, Mizanul told The Daily Star that the pirates were yet to demand any ransom.
"They just contacted for the first time. There was no discussion in fact. Since the contact has been made, we are hopeful of starting negotiations very soon," he said.
Once the negotiations begin, the company would be able to solve the crisis in the quickest possible time, the official said.
Bangladesh Merchant Marine Officers' Association (BMMOA) General Secretary Shakawat Hossain said, "I hope both parties will reach an agreement soon."
Officials of KSRM Group have already completed all preparations for the negotiation. Immediately after the hijack, the firm notified the ship's UK-based insurer P&I (protection and indemnity) Club and different international organisations of the incident.
Usually, the insurer takes the lead role in the negotiation with the pirates through different third parties.
Mizanul said since their firm has previous experience in dealing with such a crisis, they are confident of reaching a solution.
He also said a few crew members also contacted them occasionally informing that all the crew members were doing well and that they were allowed to conduct regular maintenance work on the ship and looking after the coal the ship is carrying.
Earlier, there were concerns about the 55,000 tonnes of coal being properly taken care of. The cargo needs regular monitoring of methane-, oxygen- and carbon monoxide-level and temperature.
The BMMOA leader said, "Since the pirates are allowing the crew to carry out maintenance work, I think the monitoring and maintenance of cargo is being done."
Meanwhile, the pirates on Tuesday afternoon allowed a few crew members to call their families via satellite phone.
The mother of a crew members told The Daily Star yesterday that her son called her during Iftar time on Tuesday. Before that, her son could contact her on Friday after the ship reached Somalian coast.
"My son said they all [crew] are doing well and the pirates are treating them well. They had to spend the night together in the ship's bridge. They were allowed to carry out maintenance works sometime in the day," she said.
On March 12, the pirates attacked MV Abdullah around 1:30pm (Bangladesh time) when the vessel was around 500 nautical miles off the Somali coast, sailing from Maputo in Mozambique to Al Hamriyah in the UAE.
After reaching near the Somali coast on March 14, the pirates changed the ship's location twice and anchored the ship around 4 nautical miles off Somalia's Gadabjiran coast.
In December 2010, KSRM's MV Jahan Moni was hijacked by pirates in the Arabian Sea. Twenty-five crew members and the wife of the chief officer were rescued nearly 100 days after they were taken hostage.