On April 14, 2024, after 32 days in captivity with Somali pirates, the crew of the MV ABDULLAH was freed after paying a ransom worth 5 million. The release of the crew is a good time to share reflections on this hijacking and to reflect on whether this pirate attack had to end with the capture of the vessel and taking the sailors hostage.

Somali pirates have used dhows and fishing boats as motherships in the Indian Ocean since January 2024 to search for new targets: the FV ANDALUS and an unknown dhow hijacked on January 13, 2024, the FV Al JABAR on January 18, 2024, and the FV AL MECCA and FV Al MAKKAH hijacked on January 28, 2024, as well as another fishing boat FV UNK hijacked just 10 days before the attack on MV ABDULLAH.

Their search was successful and resulted in the hijacking of the Bangladesh-flagged vessel MV ABDULLAH on March 12, 2024. The ship was carrying coal from Mozambique to the United Arab Emirates and was attacked by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean about 575 Nautical Miles east of Mogadishu.

There were 23 Bangladeshi seamen who were taken hostage on the side of a ship belonging to Bangladeshi shipowner SR Shipping of KSRM Group.

More and personal point of view on the MV ABDULLAH attack.

analyse of MV ABDULLAH piracy attack