By Staff Reporter
KARACHI: Somali pirates killed five crew members, including three Pakistanis, on the hijacked tanker MT Honour 25, the authorities in Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region said on Tuesday. The announcement ended months of uncertainty for families who had been trying to find out what had happened to the sailors.
The deaths appear to be the first at the hands of Somali pirates in more than a decade, according to Reuters.
Puntland’s information ministry said a rescue operation had freed the Palau-flagged tanker and captured 16 pirates. In a statement, it said the pirates on board “killed five of the crew” before the operation began. The dead were three Pakistanis, one Indian and one Myanmar national. It said four other crew members had been injured: three Pakistanis and one Indian.
The Puntland Maritime Police Force said on X that the vessel was “now safe and under Puntland Government control”. It said 21 suspected pirates had been apprehended and that a search for others was continuing. The figure differs from the ministry’s count of 16, and neither body explained the discrepancy. Puntland state television reported that those detained would be brought before a court.
The police force said the operation took place off Dharin-baar in Bandar Beyla district. It did not identify the dead, say exactly when they were killed, or say whether the wounded had received medical treatment or where surviving crew had been taken.
The timing of the killings is disputed. Two surviving Pakistani crew members told the Ansar Burney Trust, a Karachi-based rights group, that the pirates shot at the hostages while fleeing the maritime police, and that an exchange of fire followed the launch of a joint operation by the Somali and Puntland authorities. According to the trust, the fleeing pirates also damaged the tanker’s steering, leaving it unable to move under its own power. Its director, Qurat-ul-Ain, said a Somali naval vessel was towing the ship towards shore. Puntland says the five were dead before its forces moved in.
The trust’s founder, Ansar Burney, confirmed that three Pakistanis, an Indian and a Myanmar national had been killed. He said four Pakistani crew members had been injured, which does not match Puntland’s list. Crew members quoted by a local television channel named the wounded as fourth engineer Usman, Aqeel, Ameen and an Indonesian sailor. Burney said his organisation had repeatedly warned the authorities of the threats to the crew’s lives, and urged that the injured be returned safely and the bodies handed to families.
Pakistani media, citing the trust and survivors, named the Pakistani dead as second officer Kashif Umar, third engineer Mahmood Ansari and oiler Rafiullah Khan. The Foreign Office in Islamabad has not confirmed the identities or the casualties. Its spokesman, Sajjad Haider Khan, said earlier on Tuesday that the mission in Djibouti, which is also accredited to Somalia, was “in contact with the relevant authorities to ascertain the facts”.
Umar, who lived in the Buffer Zone area of Karachi, had worked in the merchant navy for 25 years. Neighbours and relatives began arriving at his home to offer condolences as news of his death spread. According to the trust, he had said in his last conversation that food, drinking water and other essentials aboard the vessel were running out.
Ayesha Ameen, whose husband Ameen Bin Shams is a fitter on the ship, told Dawn before the Puntland statement that reports of casualties among the Pakistanis were circulating. She said her husband was reportedly among the injured.
“We don’t know how bad the injuries are,” she said. “We are trying to establish contact with the ship’s captain on the numbers that we have. But our calls are not being answered.”
“As far as we know, the bodies are still on the ship, as are the injured. There is no one to tell us if they will be moved. We are going mad here.”
The Honour 25 was seized on 21 April about 30 nautical miles off the Puntland coast, with 17 people aboard. It was sailing from Oman to Somalia and carried about 18,500 barrels of oil. Ten of the crew were Pakistani. The others were four Indonesians, including the captain, and one each from Sri Lanka, Myanmar and India. The pirates reportedly demanded a $3m (£2.2m) ransom for the ship, cargo and crew.
Families of the Pakistani sailors protested in Karachi on 13 May. Last month Pakistan asked the International Maritime Organisation to help secure the release and safe return of the 10 Pakistani seafarers. Before Tuesday, people identified as crew members had told the trust that their captors were threatening to kill hostages if security forces tried to retake the ship.
The operation came a week after Puntland’s maritime police freed the US-sanctioned tanker Sibu 1, which pirates had seized in August. Piracy off Somalia has resurged in recent years. Experts link the trend partly to the effects of the Iran war and higher oil prices, which make tankers more attractive targets. In August, the IMO said more than 90 seafarers were being held captive in the region, and warned that some lacked adequate food, water and medical care.
A previous wave of Somali piracy, which peaked between 2008 and 2014, disrupted one of the world’s busiest shipping routes and generated hundreds of millions of dollars in ransom payments.
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