Three Pakistani sailors are among five crew members killed after a tanker hijacked by pirates off Somalia was recovered by Puntland security forces following more than five months in captivity.
The Palau-flagged MT Honour 25 was recovered on Tuesday in the Dharin Baar area of Bandar Beyla district in Puntland, a semi-autonomous region of northeastern Somalia. The tanker was hijacked on 21 April with 17 crew members on board, including 10 Pakistanis.
The Puntland Maritime Police Force said five crew members were killed by the pirates before its operation to retake the tanker began. Three were Pakistani, while the other two were from India and Myanmar. Four crew members were also injured, including three Pakistanis. The force said 16 suspected pirates were apprehended.
The three Pakistani sailors were identified by the Ansar Burney Welfare Trust as Second Officer Kashif Umar, Third Engineer Mahmood Ansari and Boiler Rafiullah. All three were from Karachi.
The trust said the information came from surviving Pakistani crew members Hussain Yousuf and Imran Ali, who contacted its Karachi office using the captain’s mobile phone.
The circumstances surrounding the deaths remain disputed.
Puntland authorities said the five sailors were killed before security forces began their operation.
The Ansar Burney Welfare Trust gave a different account. It said the surviving crew members reported that Somali forces and the pirates exchanged fire during the rescue, and that the pirates opened fire on the hostages while retreating from the vessel. The trust also said the pirates damaged the tanker’s steering system while fleeing.
The two accounts have not been independently reconciled.
The Pakistani sailors spent more than five months in captivity after the tanker was hijacked off Puntland.
Their families repeatedly protested to demand their release and sought help from Pakistani authorities, foreign governments, the United Nations and the International Maritime Organization.
In September, relatives held a sit-in outside a Foreign Affairs Liaison Office in Karachi. Some family members were detained by police during the protest. The families alleged that they were mistreated, while police disputed aspects of their account.
The families’ campaign continued alongside diplomatic contacts between Pakistani and Somali officials, including meetings in Mogadishu in June.
The crew had earlier reported shortages of food, clean drinking water and medicine during captivity. The pirates initially demanded a $3 million ransom before later reducing it to $1 million.
The recovery of the tanker comes as piracy has again become a concern along the Somali coast and surrounding waters.
The International Maritime Organization said in July that 44 seafarers were being held aboard three hijacked vessels, including the MT Honour 25. It also reported 24 attempted and actual piracy and armed robbery incidents in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden region over a three-month period.
The MT Honour 25 is now under Puntland government control. The incident underscores the renewed risks facing commercial shipping off Somalia.
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