Sailors, including Pakistanis, held captive aboard the Somali oil tanker Honer 25 have run out of food supplies, medicines and drinking water, crew members told their families on Saturday.
The oil tanker, travelling from Oman to Somalia, was seized on April 21 by more than 50 sea pirates. There are a total of 17 crew members on board, 10 of whom are Pakistanis. On Saturday, the pirates allowed the seventeen kidnapped sailors to contact their families. The Pakistani sailors were also each allowed a five-minute phone call to speak with their relatives.
According to the ship’s third officer, Kashif Umar, who is from Karachi, only rice remains on the vessel, which is boiled and eaten once a day. He said that three crew members are ill, but all medicines on board have also run out. Kashif added that the biggest problem is drinking water.
“They are now forced to drink the dirty, muddy water used by the pirates because the pirates have exhausted the crew’s own water supply,” Umar said.