The family of Joy Mahmud, ordinary seaman, who is among 23 crew members of the Bangladeshi cargo vessel MV Abdullah hijacked by a group of Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean on Tuesday, is counting every moment in anxiety.
Joy, hailing from Salinagar village in Bagatipara upazila of Natore, told his cousin Maruf about his situation over the phone after the Somali pirates took them as hostages.
Maruf said Joy asked him not to inform his parents about the incident but they came to know about it through public representatives and media.
Ziaur Rahman and Abida Begum, Joy’s parents, have not slept since hearing about the captivity of their only son.
They demanded the government and the ship authorities take immediate action to rescue everyone on board, including their son.
Joy joined the ship as an ordinary seaman on November 29.
Among the 23 crew members, 11 are from Chittagong, two from Noakhali and one each from Natore, Naogaon, Feni, Faridpur, Lakshmipur, Barisal, Netrakona, Sirajganj, Tangail and Khulna.
Earlier on Tuesday, the ship, carrying coal from Mozambique’s Maputo port to Al Hamriyah Port in the UAE, was attacked around noon.
MV Abdullah is owned by SR Shipping – a sister company of the Chittagong-based Kabir Steel Re-rolling Mills (KSRM) Ltd. All crew members are being held hostage by the pirates, said KSRM’s media adviser Mizanul Islam.
The crew members are Captain Mohammad Abdur Rashid, Chief Officer Mohammad Atikullah Khan, Second Officer Mazharul Islam Chowdhury, Third Officer Tarequl Islam, Deck Cadet Sabbir Hossain, Chief Engineer ASM Saiduzzaman, Second Officer Toufiqul Islam, Third Engineer Rokon Uddin, Fourth Engineer Tanvir Ahmed, Engine Cadet Ayub Khan, electrician Ibrahim Khalil, seamen Md Anwarul Haque, Md Asifur Rahman, Sazzad Hossain, Joy Mahmud, Nazmul Haque and Ainul Haque, oiler Mohamamd Shamsuddin, Ali Hossain, fireman Mosharraf Hossain Shakil, chief cook Shafiqul Islam, general steward Nur Uddin, and fitter Saleh Ahmed.
KSRM owns 23 ships – all operating on international routes. In 2011, one of the ships, MV Zahan Moni, was hijacked and later released by Somali pirates after getting ransom.