The two Bangladeshi crewmen of MT Marida Marguerite, a German chemical tanker which was hijacked by Somali pirates on May 8, were released along with 20 others on Tuesday. The Bangladeshis are chief officer of the tanker Mohammad Zafar Iqbal and second engineer ABM Giasuddin Azam Khan. Family members of both of them are residents of the port city of Chittagong.
Farida Tun-Nur Chowdhury, 52, mother of Zafar now residing at Sugandha Residential Area, said that her son had informed her of his release over the telephone at around 3.00pm on Tuesday.
‘I have passed night after night without sleep for the past few months, grieving for my son,’ she said, adding that Zafar had told her that they were heading for Salalah, a port in Oman.
She also quoted Zafar as saying that it might take several more days to reach Oman since their tanker was going at slow speed due to the engine’s condition bad.
The Somali pirates hijacked the vessel on May 8 when she was about 120 nautical miles south of the port of Salalah in Oman with 22 crewmen, including 19 Indians, one Ukrainian and two Bangladeshis.
According to the reports published on several websites, Somali pirates released the vessel on Tuesday afternoon after the payment of $5.5 million as ransom.
