Claim owners
All the 25 crew and wife of a crew, who remained hostage in the hijacked Bangladeshi ship MV Jahan Moni, were doing well, claim the officials of the operating firm of the ship quoting telephonic conversation with the Somali pirates and the captain of the ship.
Disagreeing to give any further detail, an official of the Brave Royal Ship Management yesterday said a Somali pirate contacted them through satellite phone and informed that all the Bangladeshis are in good health but their stock of drinking is water about to finish.
During contact over satellite phone made by the Somalipirate with the officials of the firm yesterday afternoon the information was revealed, they said.
According to the sources in Brave Royal, the Somali pirate on board the ship contacted with a senior official of the firm at around 5:00pm.
The captain of ship Farid Ahmed also talked with the official for around two minutes and informed that they were all well while their stock of drinking water was about to finish, they said.
Somali pirates who hijacked the ship are in regular contact with the officials of the ship’s owner and operating firm, they added.
General Manager of Brave Royal Meherul Karim while talking to The Daily Star yesterday confirmed about the latest contact.
He, however, disagreed to give any detail about the conversation with the pirates.
Meanwhile, the Foreign Ministry held a meeting on Monday night to discuss the latest situation where the owner of the ships and officials of the Ministry of Shipping were present.
In a release, the foreign ministry reiterated its assurance to all concerned especially the members of the family of hostage crews. The government is doing all it can to resolve the crisis and ensure the release and safe return of the hostages as early as possible.
The Foreign Ministry called on the family members of the crew to a meeting scheduled to be held at the ministry in Dhaka at around 11.00am today, said the sources.
Greece bound MV Jahan Moni was hijacked from the Arabian sea 1,300 nautical miles off Somali coast on December 5 and later the pirates took the ship to the Somali coast and are asking for ransoms keeping 25 Bangladeshi crew and wife of the chief engineer aboard as hostage.
