Twenty-three Bangladeshi sailors of cargo vessel MV Abdullah, who were abducted by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean, returned home on Tuesday afternoon after more than a month in captivity.
All 23 sailors were welcomed by family members and officials on their arrival at Chattogram Port.听
By a lighter vessel named Jahan Moni-3, all crew members landed at Chattogram Port New Mooring Terminal this afternoon at about 4:00pm where Port officials, the deputy managing director of KSRM and family听 members warmly welcomed them.
鈥楳y blood pressure fell when pirates attacked our ship. I along with two or three crew members didn鈥檛 understand what was going to happen,鈥� ASM Saifuzzaman, chief engineer of MV Abdullah was describing his experience after reaching Chattogram Port this afternoon.
鈥榃henever any EU warship or any other ship crossed the route or came near our ship, the pirates pointed their guns at us. It seemed that that was our last day of life,鈥� Saifuzzaman added.
Saifuzzaman also said that he never thought that they would be freed so early.
The crew members of MV Abdullah reached Chattogram by a lighter vessel after handing over the ship to a new team of 23 crew members.
鈥楾oday is my Eid day because my son has come back to me,鈥� said Joshna Begum, mother of Tanveer Ahmad, the fourth engineer of the hijacked ship while waiting in the port yard along with other family members.
鈥業 lived with my daughter-in-law鈥檚 two sons and Tanveer is elder. On that day at around 4:00pm, I came to know about the incident through a TV Channel and asked my daughter-in-law about it and she confessed.鈥�
Maimuna, wife of Tanveer, said that she did not believe the news and when she knew that it was true she was shocked.
鈥業 started browsing around in the network and reading ship piracy news around the world. One of the news I read was that a Malaysian ship was attacked by pirates and the crew members came home after four years. I got panicked,鈥� she said.
MV Abdullah was hijacked by dozens of Somali pirates from the Indian Ocean and taken to the Somali coast on March 12 in a major escalation of piracy activities in the region.
Pirates attacked the MV Abdullah when it was heading for Al Hamriyah Port in the United Arab Emirates, around 600 nautical miles off the Somali coast. It was carrying 58 thousand tonnes of coal from Mozambique鈥檚 Maputo port.
On April 14, the ship was released after a good amount of ransom was paid and with EU ship protection, MV Abdullah finally reached Al Hamriyah Port in the UAE after eight days.
The ship loaded and unloaded the goods and stayed for five days there.
On April 27, it started for Chattogram in Bangladesh.
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The 23 crew members of MV Abdullah, which was released on April 14 after 31 days of captivity by Somali pirates, finally met their families as the vessel reached the Chattogram port on Tuesday afternoon. --UNB photo
