A Bangladesh-flagged ship hijacked by pirates in the Arabian Sea off the Indian coast last week has been taken to the Somali coast, Bangladeshi shipping officials said on Saturday.
“The ship is seen at an anchorage off the coast of Somalia,” an official of the Brave Royal Shipping Management Limited (BRSML) told Reuters after viewing satellite images of the ship.
BRSML is the operator of M.V. Jahan Moni, hijacked from an spot around 3,000 km (1,900 miles) east of Somalia on December 5. The ship is owned by a Bangladeshi shipping firm and was sailing to Europe with merchandise from Singapore.
“We are eager to negotiate with the hijackers to get the release of all 26 crew along with the ship,” said the official, Meherul Karim. The crew included the wife of the ship’s chief engineer.
Bangladesh sought help from anti-piracy teams in Dubai and Singapore and Indian coastguards immediately after the hijacking.
Somali pirates are making tens of millions of dollars in ransoms from seizing ships, including tankers and dry bulkers, in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden and holding them for ransom, despite the efforts of foreign navies to prevent such attacks.
Source: Reuters
Hijacked Bangladeshi ship taken to Somali coast
Published: December 12, 2010
