CHATTOGRAM, Mar 21: The negotiations with the Somali pirates who had hijacked the Bangladeshi flagged ship MV Abdullah have been going on for the release of the ship and 23 sailors.
According to sources, the negotiations on the release of the ship and crew between the owners of the hijacked ship and the Somali Pirates have been going on since Wednesday through a third party.
The sources related with the maritime trade hoped that the hijack drama will end very soon.
The authorities of KSRM Group, the owners of MV Abdullah, refuted the report of the negotiation with the pirates.
"We have been continuing contact with the sailors and the pirates," said Mijanul Islam Media spokesman of the KSRM Group.
He said, "Our sailors were safe and in good health."
But he hoped that the hijack drama of the ship will end soon.
Meanwhile, the Somali pirates made contact with the owners of the hijacked cargo ship MV Abdullah for the first time on Wednesday.
The pirates are yet to make a ransom demand for the release of the 23 crew members.
The MV Abdullah is owned by SR Shipping, a sister concern of KSRM Group.
The MV Abdullah was hijacked on March 12. The 23 sailors who were on board the ship during the incident are all Bangladeshis.
The ship had set sail for the United Arab Emirates from Mozambiques Maputo Port, carrying coal along the Indian Ocean.
Once it was hijacked, the vessel reached the coast of Somalia on March 14 under the control of the pirates. Its location has since changed.
The MV Abdullah was hijacked off the coast of Somalia on March 12 last, the latest of more than 20 attacks since November by Somali pirates who had laid dormant for nearly a decade.
Previously, on December 5, 2010, the companys ship MV Jahan Mani was hijacked by Somali pirates in the Arabian Sea. Twenty-five Bangladeshi sailors and 26 others, including the wife of a captain, were held captive for 100 days.
Through government initiatives and other efforts, the hostages were released on March 14, 2011, and returned to Bangladesh the following day.
However, at least 17 incidents of hijacking, attempted hijacking or suspicious approaches have been recorded by the Indian navy since December, Indian officials have said.
India deployed at least a dozen warships east of the Red Sea in January to provide security against pirates and has investigated more than 250 vessels.
Attacks by Somali pirates on vessels were at a peak between 2010 and 2015, but they have declined amid patrols by US and other allied naval forces.
The Somali pirates may have used the merchant vessel to take over a Bangladesh-flagged cargo ship off the coast of Somalia this week, the European Union naval force said on Thursday.
Somali pirates have not been able to successfully hijack a merchant ship since 2017. That was until the Ruen was seized.
Meanwhile, more than 20 attempted hijackings since November have driven up prices for armed security guards and insurance coverage and raised the spectre of possible ransom payments, according to international media.
Somali pirates were taking advantage of the distraction provided by Houthi strikes several hundred nautical miles to the north to get back into piracy after lying dormant for nearly a decade.
While the threat is not as serious as it was in 2008-2014, regional officials and industry sources are concerned the problem could escalate.
The waterways off Somalia include some of the worlds busiest shipping lanes. Each year, an estimated 20,000 vessels, carrying everything from furniture and apparel to grains and fuel, pass through the Gulf of Aden on their way to and from the Red Sea and Suez Canal, the shortest maritime route between Europe and Asia.
At their peak in 2011, Somali pirates launched 237 attacks and held hundreds of hostages, the International Maritime Bureau reported.
That year, the Oceans Beyond Piracy monitoring group estimated their activities cost the global economy about US$7 billion, including hundreds of millions of dollars in ransom.
The current rate of attacks is significantly less, with the pirates primarily targeting smaller vessels in less patrolled waters. Since November, they have successfully seized at least two cargo ships and 12 fishing vessels.
