MV Abdullah, with 23 crew on board, leaves UAE for home

The Bangladeshi ship, MV Abdullah, which has recently been freed from Somali pirates, left for home from the Al Hamriya Port in Dubai early Tuesday (April 30).

MV Abdullah’s captain Abdur Rashid said the ship, loaded around 56,000 tonnes of limestone, left the UAE port of Mina Saqr around 2am (UAE time). All the 23 sailors would return by the same ship.

Mizanul Islam, media adviser to KSRM Group, hoped that the ship will reach Chattogram on May 12 or 13.

“The cargo will be unloaded at Kutubdia and anchored at Chattogram beach. Then the sailors will meet their families or go home,” said Meherul Karim, CEO of SR Shipping.

The MV Abdullah was hijacked from the Indian Ocean on March 12 last, some 600 nautical miles of the Somalian coast, while it was going to Dubai.

After holding the ship hostage for 33 days at gunpoint, Somali pirates released the Bangladeshi ship on the night of April 13 in exchange for a reported ransom of US$5million.