Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud says the government has been unable to establish contact with the pirates who hijacked the Bangladeshi ship MV Abdullah in the Indian Ocean, taking 23 sailors on board hostage.

But they are still ‘working’ to rescue them, he said.

“We are trying through a second party and have informed those necessary.”

The minister’s comments came after a seminar at Dhaka University on Wednesday afternoon.

“We have reported the incident to the [IMB Piracy Reporting Centre] in Kuala Lumpur, the [Information Fusion Centre – Indian Ocean Region] in New Delhi, and all aerial naval ships, including those of Singapore, USA, UK, and China. We are trying other methods to communicate with them as well.”

“The detective agencies are working on it. The prime minister is extremely concerned about the situation. The matter was officially discussed in the cabinet as well.”

The MV Abdullah was hijacked by Somali pirates on Tuesday. They families of the 23 Bangladeshi sailors on board say the pirates threatened to kill each of their hostages one by one unless a ransom is paid.

Asked how the hostages would be freed and whether the pirates would be sent a ransom, the foreign minister said, “Our goal is to free the ship and its sailors. But our strategy cannot be discussed in public.”

“Previously, another ship owned by the same company was hijacked by pirates. The ship and its crew were rescued three months later.”