‘You are free’: moment Somali pirates release captured Bangladeshi ship and crew

It was 3am in Bangladesh. All 65 Somali pirates got off MV Abdullah one by one. They ventured into the dark of the night on nine boats. “You are free,” the pirates told the sailors before leaving.  

The ship’s captain then sent a message confirming their release to its owner SR Shipping Ltd a month after its capture in the Indian Ocean.

This is how SR Shipping CEO Meherul Kabir described the moment  of the Bangladeshi seafarers release at a press conference in parent company Kabir Group’s Chattogram office on Sunday.

“We completed all the work legally in coordination with the international organisations,” Meherul said.

A video of the moments before the release of the Bangladeshi sailors has spread on social media.

It shows the sailors lined up on the deck with a small aircraft hovering around the ship.

The pirates took position in front of the ship on two speedboats. One voice is heard asking the sailors to raise their hands. Another voice is then heard saying something in Somali.  

The aircraft dropped three bags in the water and the pirates on the speedboats picked those up one by one. They were cheering every time a bag was dropped. After dropping the last bag, the aircraft turned around and left.

A voice on the ship is then heard telling the sailors in English: “You are free. You can go.”

No official of Kabir Group acknowledged paying ransom for the release of the ship and the 23 members of its crew.

State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury said the government did not have information on ransom paid for MV Abdullah and its crew.

Reuters and the Somali media mentioned Tk 5 million ransom, but CEO Meherul did not give a direct reply to questions on the matter.

“We worked in line with the maritime laws of the US, the UK, Somalia and Kenya after communicating with international organisations. We can’t reveal many things as per the conditions set in the negotiation,” he said.

Meherul had been the negotiator for the company when its ship MV Jahan Moni was captured by pirates in 2010.

He said it took 100 days to free the sailors of MV Jahan Moni because the firm lacked experience in such matters.

“We’ve been able to take quick steps this time in light of that experience. We monitored the situation from the beginning to the end,” he said.

The company communicated with the pirates through an assistant of their commander who could speak English.

After the negotiation, the firm demanded that the pirates send videos of all the crew members to confirm that they are well, Meherul said.

MV Abdullah and its crew are now set to arrive in Dubai on Apr 19. It will take four to five days there for formalities to be completed before the sailors can head back to Bangladesh.