 |
| Picture Collected |
After being held captive for 32 days, the crew of the Bangladesh-flagged ship, MV Abdullah, and their families expressed happiness on Sunday when the vessel was released.
Atikullah Khan, the chief officer of the ship, posted a photo of himself hoisting a red-green flag along with the message, "Love you and missing you Bangladesh," on Facebook.
"Thank you Allah, thank you Allah, thank you Allah," he wrote. We appreciate SR Shipping's amazing efforts. We are grateful to all of the well-wishers, relatives, and friends that prayed for us along the way."
"Euronav is appreciated for Operation Atlanta. Gratitude to Bangladesh," he continued.
The images he included with the posts featured the MV Abdullah adjacent to a warship belonging to the European Union's (EU) EUNAVFOR Atlanta.
Another image shows Bangladeshi crew members on board the MV Abdullah with EU Navy personnel.
Crew member in custody The Daily Sun was informed by the owning authority about the release early in the morning, according to the elder brother of Engine Cadet Ayub Khan, Aurangajeb Rabbi.
Later on, his brother called to confirm that everything was well.
"We were relieved to hear this news because we had been living in constant fear for the past month," Rabbi stated, thanking the government and the owning authority for taking swift action and releasing their loved ones.
However, at a news conference held on Sunday afternoon at their office in the city, the owning authority, Kabir Group, stated that their prior experiences enabled them to guarantee the prompt release of the vessel and its crew members without any injuries.
At the conference, the ship's Deputy Managing Director (DMD), Shahriar Jahan Rahat, stated that upon its release, it began to cruise in the direction of the United Arab Emirates to unload its cargo. "We anticipate that the ship will arrive in Dubai on April 20."
"We took into account the safety of the crew members held captive and as a result discouraged operation by international navies," he continued.
Shahriar expressed gratitude to the prime minister and other relevant parties for their unwavering assistance in securing the crewmen's and the ship's prompt release. He clarified that security procedures were in place on board the ship at the time of the hijacking.
Meherul Karim, the CEO of Kabir Group, stated that all international rules were followed in order to release the vessel.
