Pirates move hijacked Bangladeshi ship from last known location: Owners

NEWS DESK

The pirates who hijacked the Bangladeshi-flagged cargo ship MV Abdullah in the Indian Ocean shifted it this afternoon from its last known location near the Somalian coast.

After it was hijacked by pirates suspected to be Somalians around noon (Bangladesh time) on Tuesday, the ship at first anchored around 20 nautical miles off Somalia’s Garacad port on Thursday morning.

The ship’s latest position was tracked as being anchored around 7 nautical miles off the Somalian port at 7:48pm on Thursday.

Officials of the ship’s owning firm KSRM Group confirmed that they got information of the ship’s movement on Friday.

Mizanul Islam, media adviser of KSRM, said they got information from a trusted source around 3:30pm that the anchor of the ship was pulled out and that it started moving.

He said the pirates may have considered the zone not secure enough and was trying to shift it to another location.

He however could not say where the ship was headed.

The Indian Navy said an Indian warship and a long-range maritime patrol aircraft were stationed in the vicinity to assist the hostage Bangladeshi ship.

The European Union on Thursday said an EU ship had been deployed to monitor the MV Abdullah.

The pirates have not made any contact with the ship owner or any third party till this evening.

KSRM official Mizanul, however, said they have taken all necessary preparations to act as soon as the pirates make contact.