A Malaysian flag carrier vessel, MV Al-bedo, which remained at hostage by Somali pirates for more than two and a half years with 15 crewmen, including seven Bangladeshis on board, capsized at the Somalia coast on Sunday.
The Bangladeshis were identified as Zakir Hossain and Limon Sarkar of Chandpur, Aminul Islam of Comilla, and Abul Kashem, Nurul Hoque, Golam Mostafa and Habibur Rahman of Satkhira.
The Somali pirates abducted the vessel in November 2010 while it was heading towards Kenya on board 22 crewmen, of who six are Sri Lankan, an Iranian, an Indian and seven Pakistanis. Later, the seven Pakistani crewmen had been released by the pirates following payment of ransom by their government, Nurul Islam, father of crewman Aminul Islam, told the Dhaka Tribune.
Jasim Uddin Patwari, deputy shipping master of Mercantile and Marine Department, told the Dhaka Tribune that they came to know about the capsize from international news media. He added that they had no information as to what had happened to the fate of the Bangladeshi crewmen.
He said they had communicated with the Malaysian owner repeatedly since it was taken hostage, but the company had taken no initiative for the release of the abducted crewmen.
He, however, said the Bangladeshi victims’ families had got no response from the government despite repeated appeal in this regard.