Three Pakistani sailors were among five crew members killed after Somali pirates allegedly opened indiscriminate fire on their hostages while fleeing the hijacked oil tanker Honour 25 during a rescue operation on Tuesday, according to survivors and the Ansar Burney Welfare Trust.
Four crew members were injured, three of them reportedly Pakistani nationals.
The Puntland Maritime Police Force said it carried out an operation off the coast of Dharin-baar in Bandar Beyla District, regaining control of the MT Honour 25, which had been held by pirates since April 21. Authorities said 21 suspected pirates were apprehended.
Pakistani survivors Hussain Yousuf and Imran Ali later contacted the Ansar Burney Welfare Trust in Karachi using the ship captain’s mobile phone and described what happened during the operation.
According to the survivors, forces from Somalia and the semi-autonomous Puntland region launched a joint operation to free the hostages. A gun battle erupted between security forces and the pirates.
They said that as the pirates came under pressure and began retreating, they opened indiscriminate fire on the captive crew before fleeing the vessel.
The three Pakistanis killed were identified as Second Officer Kashif Umar, Third Engineer Mahmood Ansari and Boiler Rafiullah. An Indian crew member identified as Tanveer and the ship’s Myanmar national chief engineer were also killed.
The injured sailors were identified as Usman, Aqeel, Ameen and Vicky, an Indonesian national.
Yasir Khan, Hussain Yousuf, Imran Ali and Yaseen were reported safe.
Ansar Burney Trust Director Advocate Qurat-ul-Ain said the attack occurred a considerable distance from shore. She said the fleeing pirates also damaged Honour 25’s steering system, leaving the tanker unable to operate independently.
A Somali naval vessel is now towing the tanker towards shore, a journey expected to take at least two days. According to Qurat-ul-Ain, the same naval vessel had been involved in the operation against the pirates.
Pakistan’s government and the Ministry of Human Rights have been informed about the incident, she added.
The Somali-flagged Honour 25 was travelling from Oman to Somalia when it was hijacked on April 21. It was carrying 17 crew members, including 10 Pakistani nationals, as well as approximately 18,500 barrels of oil.
For months, families of the Pakistani hostages, all from different parts of Karachi, had staged peaceful protests and repeatedly appealed to authorities to secure their relatives’ release.
The pirates initially demanded a $3 million ransom, later reducing it to $1.9 million and eventually $1 million.
The operation comes amid a broader resurgence of piracy off the Somali coast and in the Gulf of Aden. Puntland authorities have recently pursued three hijacked vessels and rescued another tanker, Sibu 1, on Friday.
That operation was followed by controversy after 28 of 41 suspected pirates reportedly escaped while being transferred to jail, with some Puntland security officials alleging complicity by local police.
According to International Maritime Organisation figures cited in reports, at least 15 piracy attacks have occurred in the region this year, the highest number since 2013.