Hijacked MV Abdullah: Team engaged to resolve crisis

The pirates who hijacked the Bangladeshi bulk career MV Abdullah were yet to contact the ship’s owning firm or any third party for ransom as of yesterday.

However, shipping and security experts have said it is not unusual as the pirates may take time to fix the ransom amount and assess the situation.

Two reliable sources told The Daily Star that soon after the hijacking, the ship’s UK-based insurer P&I (protection and indemnity) Club engaged a global crisis management firm called Crisis 24 to analyse the situation and chalk out the necessary plans.

Crisis 24 sent a team to Bangladesh immediately after the hijacking, the sources said.

A senior official of the ship’s owning firm SR Shipping said the team is doing an assessment and making all necessary preparations regarding the rescue of the ship and the crew.

Mizanul Islam, media adviser of KSRM Group, the parent organisation of SR Shipping, however, said they are not aware of such a team. He said P&I Club is dealing with the whole issue.

He said the pirates were yet to make any contact with the firm or any third party.

“Our firm has taken all required measures to respond as soon as the pirates communicate,” he said.

No crew member made contact with the company since Thursday evening either, he added.

Families of several crew members expressed concern over depleting stock of food and drinking water in the ship as pirates are also sharing those with the crew.

The ship had 25 days of food and water when it started its journey from Maputo in Mozambique to Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.

After reaching near the Somali coast on Thursday the pirates changed location twice and now anchored the ship around 4 nautical miles off Somalia’s Gadabjiran coast, sources said.

Officials of KSRM and Bangladesh Merchant Marine Officers’ Association (BMMOA) said the pirates may have moved the ship from its previous location over security concerns.

They also said the pirates would take some more time to make contact.

Captain Anam Chowdhury, BMMOA president and veteran mariner, told The Daily Star that the pirates moved the ship very close to the shore to show everyone that they were in full control of the ship.

A senior official of KSRM said pirates made first contact after over two weeks during the hijack of the firm’s other ship MV Jahan Moni in 2010.

Referring to several hijacking incidents, Captain Anam said multiple groups of pirates are involved in the process of hijacking a ship and collecting ransom.

He said the group that would negotiate may now take some time to fix the ransom amount.

Rear Admiral (Retd) Md Khurshed Alam, secretary (Maritime Affairs Unit) of the Foreign Ministry, told The Daily Star that the pirates would now calculate the total expenditures to fix the ransom amount.

“The pirates hijacked the ship for money. It is their business. They would contact for ransom today or tomorrow,” he said.

Saying that the ship’s owner firm and insurer would play the main role in the negotiation, the secretary said the government is doing everything in support.

It took 100 days to rescue 26 Bangladeshi onboard the ship MV Jahan Moni which was hijacked by Somali pirates on December 5 2010.