State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury has said the government’s goal is to bring back the 23 abducted sailors of MV Abdullah captive by Somali pirates safely and bring them back to their families.
"We are trying to solve the issue through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Our naval department works in the international area, they are also keeping an eye on it. Overall, the situation is not out of our control. It's not a small incident, it's a big one,” he said while talking to journalists at his office at the Secretariat on Tuesday.
He added that declaring a date to bring them back will not actually bring them home.
The state minister said earlier the government had the target of bringing back the sailors by Eid-ul-Fitr but it failed.
“But hopefully, we will be able to bring them back to the country in a few days. We hope to find an amicable solution within this month,” he added.
The state minister also noted that the sailors were in good condition.