The Bangladesh government has said no to the European Union (EU) and Indian Navy’s offer to conduct operations aboard the ship MV Abdullah, which was taken over by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean, the Dhaka Tribune reported.
The owner of the ship has said that they would negotiate directly with the pirates. The pirates were in regular contact with the ship owner and as of now, there is no clarity on the amount of money that is being negotiated upon, media report said.
The ship has 23 sailors on board. The pirates contacted the owner of the vessel for the first time – nine days after the ship was hijacked. Most of the pirates speak Somali and Arabic and it is only now that an English-speaking man hired by the pirates is negotiating with the owner.
On March 12, a group of Somalian pirates seized control of the Bangladesh-flagged cargo vessel when it was carrying coal from Mozambique’s Maputo port to Al Hamriyah Port in the United Arab Emirates.
The Bangladesh government has said that the sailors were healthy and their families had contacted them for the first time over the weekend.
Over the past few months, various navies has upped the pressure on Somali pirates. Recently, the Indian Navy captured 35 Somali pirates from the cargo ship Ruen last week, three months after it was hijacked off the Somali coast.
There has been a sudden rise in piracy with Somali pirates taking advantage of Western forces’ focusing on protecting shipping from attacks in the Red Sea by Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi militants. Since November, pirates have made attempts to conduct over 20 hijackings. This has led to a rise in insurance and security costs. Commercial traffic through the region has halved since November last year as ships take the longer route around the Cape of Good Hope.
