Imminent Release

According to reports, the hijacked ship ‘MV Jahan Moni’ will be released on Monday along with its 26 Bangladeshi sailors.

“The ship, its 25 crewmembers and the wife of its chief engineer are all safe and unharmed, and they’ll be released on Sunday night or Monday morning,” acting foreign secretary Mustafa Kamal told a press briefing on Saturday evening.

The Bangladeshis will be taken to the ‘port of refuge’ and they will be off-boarded for medical check-up, and the ship will go to Greece with fresh crew, he said.

But he did not disclose the name of the port of refuge for security concern.

The ship was taken hostage on Dec 5 last year by Somali pirates.

“The ship was going to Greece from Indonesia carrying 43,150 tonnes of nickel when it was hijacked,” said Kamal adding, “The pirates will also release the cargoes and that will be taken to Greece after its release.”

It takes 150 days on average to secure the release of a hijacked ship from pirates, but it was going to take only about 100 days to have Jahan Moni released, he said.

Asked whether any ransom has been paid to the pirates, he said, “We don’t have any knowledge about that.”