Hijacked Bangladeshi Ship
Contact not made yet
The government has no update on the hijacked Bangladeshi ship MV Jahan Moni except for its location. Officials could not make any contact with the crew members or the pirates till yesterday.
“We do not have any update on them,” said Commodore Bazlur Rahman, the director general of shipping directorate, when asked.
The operating company of the ship, Brave Royal Ship Management is spotting the vessel via satellite. Last time the ship was tracked at 850 nautical miles off Somali coast.
Brave Royal General Manager Meherul Karim said the ship was heading west at 10.8 nautical miles an hour.
He said they were repeatedly trying to contact the crew aboard over satellite phones.
The phones rang but nobody responded.
Brave Royal Technical Manager Rahmat Ullah said they had sought help from Indian Coast Guard, Mumbai Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre, Dubai based UK MTO and Singapore based International Maritime Bureau immediately after the Sunday’s pirate attack.
Indian coast guard had assured them of sending gunboat but later stepped back fearing any assault on the hostages since any armed intervention could trigger bloodshed, he said.
Meherul said they have nothing to do but wait until the ship reaches any shore or the pirates contact them.
The foreign ministry sources said the government was keeping touch with different organisations, including those from India, Dubai, Singapore and in Somalia, who work on preventing sea crimes.
The government had contacted Somalia, said the sources. The coast of northern Somalia is particularly notorious for pirates.
They also said, a taskforce comprising officials from government and international agencies had been formed. They gave no further details.
The Bangladesh government came to know about the hijacking as soon as it took place at 170 nautical miles off Lakkha island of India.
“Indian Navy’s assistance is being sought to rescue the ship which the pirates are believed to be steering towards Somalia,” the sources said.
“An Indian helicopter even followed the ship until the vessel went beyond Indian waters,” said another source from the ministry.
Meanwhile, the International Chamber of Commerce in their web service of live piracy report said six armed pirates had captured the ship.
“A merchant vessel [MV Jahan Moni] was reportedly hijacked by six armed pirates and 26 people including wife of the chief engineer were held hostage around 67 nautical miles west off Minicoy Island.”
Meanwhile, lawmakers yesterday discussed about the hijacked ship in parliament.
Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal lawmaker Mayeen Uddin Khan Badal taking floor on point of order demanded that the shipping minister issue a statement on the hijacking.
“We want to know the government measures to rescue the ship from the pirates,” he said.
Deputy Speaker Col (retd) Shawkat Ali said “We hope the government will issue a statement in parliament soon on the issue,” Shawkat said in response.
He said the nation as well as the House is worried about the ship’s fate.
