Bangladeshi flagged ship ‘MV Abdullah’ finally entered the country's territorial waters in the Bay of Bengal on Sunday morning two months after it was hijacked by Somali pirates.
Meherul Karim, chief executive officer (CEO) of SR Shipping Limited, the owning company of the Bangladeshi vessel, said this while talking to the local journalists.
He also said that the ship ‘MV Abdullah’ was around 350 nautical miles away from Kutubdia around 3:50pm on Sunday.
Abdul Mubin, an official at SR Shipping Ltd said that MV Abdullah will hopefully anchor at Kutubdia in Cox's Bazar on Monday night.
President of the Bangladesh Merchant Marine Officers' Association Captain Md Anam Chowdhury also expressed the same hope, quoting some sailors of the ship. Tanveer Ahmad, the 4th Engineer of the ship in a message to the local journalists said all the crew members are very excited as the ship is now very close to the country's coast.
He also said that all of our crewmen were eagerly waiting to return home and meet their family members and friends.
In reply to a question about his feelings after being released from the Somali armed pirates and returning home, he said that they feel like they have got a second life.
Meherul Karim said the cargo would be unloaded as per plan of the importer.
After remaining captive by the Somali pirates for one month, MV Abdullah ship and 23 sailors were released on April 13 after payment of ransom.
The vessel encountered attack by the Somali pirates on March 12 while transporting 55,000 tonnes of coal from Maputo port of Mozambique to Al Hamriyah port in the UAE.
