Bangladeshi ship seized off Somali coast is freed after more than a month

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — A cargo vessel seized by pirates off the Somali coast has been freed along with its crew after more than a month, the European Union’s maritime security force said Monday.

Operation ATALANTA said in a statement that all 23 crew members of the Bangladesh-flagged cargo carrier MV Abdullah had been released after 32 days in captivity.

It was not immediately clear under what circumstances the ship was released.

Operation ATALANTA has been shadowing the vessel since shortly after it was seized March 12 in the Indian Ocean, nearly 1,100 kilometers (700 miles) east of Somalia’s coastal capital Mogadishu.

Twenty armed assailants took control of the vessel while it was going from Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, to Hamriya in the United Arab Emirates, according to Ambrey, a British maritime security company.

The ship is owned by Bangladeshi company SR Shipping Lines, a sister concern of Chattogram-based Kabir Steel and Rerolling Mill Group, company media advisor Mizanul Islam told local media in Bangladesh.

Once-rampant piracy off the Somali coast diminished after a peak in 2011, but concerns about new attacks have grown in recent months.