Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud on Wednesday said the government is trying to work with a "second party" to ensure the safe release of hostages aboard the MV Abdullah, which was hijacked in the Indian Ocean on Monday.
The Foreign Minister made the remark while speaking to journalists at the Nabab Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Bhaban of Dhaka University.
He said, "Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has expressed concern over the incident. Security agencies are working and it was discussed in the cabinet meeting informally."
The minister said the government had already informed the relevant bodies in information centres of Kuala Lumpur, New Delhi and Singapore, alongside alerting naval ships of the USA, the UK, India and China.
"We are trying to connect to the pirates through a second party. We can't connect with the pirates till now but we have informed where it's needed."
Besides, State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury said, "Appropriate steps are being taken in this regard," he was talking to journalists at his Secretariat office this afternoon.
When asked how long it would take to bring the crew memner back, he said "It is not possible to give a timeframe because the kidnappers are pirates, not normal people."
"The Department of Shipping, and all Maritime wings are working together to resolve the issue. At any cost, we are bound to rescue the crew and ship," he said.
The ship is 600 nautical miles off the Somalia coast but it is not clear yet who the pirates are," he said replying to another query.
"We have informed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about this. We have asked for everyone's cooperation to rescue the ship. "Our main priority will be the safe return of the 23 crew members. The crews are safe and sound now in the hijacked vessel."
He also said that India's cooperation has been sought for rescuing the ship and how they will cooperate will be implemented through the Ministry of External Affairs and international wings.
Regarding ransom, Khalid said, “We have not received such kind of information.”
When asked if there was contact with the pirates, he said, "There are some organisations who can contact the pirates. We have no dealings with pirates. We have contact with different countries and we are determined to bring them back."
