Somali pirates have released seven Bangladeshi sailors, who were abducted from a Malaysian flag-carrying merchant ship in the high seas in 2010.
The seven abducted Bangladeshi sailors are -- Golam Mostafa, Aminul Islam, Habibur Rahman, Zakir Hossain, Abul Quasem Sardar, Limon Sarker and Nurul Haque.
The seven Bangladeshi sailors are being flown to Kenya by a special aircraft of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Khorshed Alam, secretary of foreign ministry's Maritime Affairs unit, told the Dhaka Tribune.
The UNODC authority and Bangladesh High Commission Nairobi will receive the crew in Nairobi where they will undergo medical checkup at the Aga Khan Hospital, Nairobi.
Nurul Islam, father of one of the hostages, Aminul Islam, told the Dhaka Tribune that the Kenyan Embassy in Dhaka contacted with them and informed about the release of his son.
The Bangladesh High Commission in Nairobi has already been instructed to prepare their travel documents, a foreign ministry press release said. As soon as the required formalities were completed by the UNODC, the Bangladesh High Commission in Nairobi will arrange passage for the seven crew to return to Bangladesh.
A gang of Somali pirates hijacked the Malaysian-flagged container ship, MV Albedo, from the Indian Ocean on November 26, 2010.
Due to lack of usual maintenance, MV Albedo sank on July 7 in 2013 and the abducted crew were shifted by the pirates to another hijacked fishing vessel.