Pakistan mourns three sailors killed in botched pirate rescue off Somalia

Pakistan’s Foreign Office expressed condolences Wednesday over the deaths of five crew members, including three Pakistani nationals, killed when pirates opened fire on hostages while retreating from a hijacked oil tanker during a rescue operation off the Somali coast.

The three Pakistani victims were identified as Rafi Ullah Khan, Syed Kashif Umer and Mahmood Ahmed Ansari. In a statement posted to social media, the Foreign Office said the government and people of Pakistan extend their deepest condolences to the bereaved families, adding that officials share their grief and are praying for strength and comfort for those left behind.

The tanker, MT Honour 25, was sailing under the Somali flag from Oman to Somalia when pirates hijacked it on April 21 with 17 crew members aboard, ten of them Pakistani nationals. Families of the Pakistani hostages had repeatedly appealed to the government over the following months for their relatives’ safe release. During the captivity, the hijackers initially demanded a three million dollar ransom, later lowering the figure to 1.9 million dollars and eventually to one million dollars.

According to two surviving Pakistani crew members who reached a human rights lawyer using the ship captain’s mobile phone, the pirates came under pressure from Somalia’s Puntland Maritime Police Force during the rescue operation and opened indiscriminate fire on the kidnapped crew before fleeing the vessel. Sailors Hussain Yousuf and Imran Ali contacted the Ansar Burney Welfare Trust in Karachi to relay details of the incident. Beyond the three Pakistani deaths, the pirates also killed an Indian crew member identified as Tanveer and a chief engineer from Myanmar.

Four other crew members were wounded in the attack, three of them Pakistani nationals. The Foreign Office said the injured have been taken to a nearby hospital and are receiving medical care, while the government works to arrange further treatment and eventually bring the survivors home. The wounded sailors were identified as Usman, Yasir, Ameen and Vicky, all from Indonesia, while crew members Hussain Yousuf, Imran Ali and Yaseen were confirmed safe.

The Foreign Office said the surviving crew were brought ashore safely at Bandar Beyla, and that Pakistan’s embassy team in Djibouti is traveling there to assist the Pakistani nationals directly. Officials said they remain in close contact with Somali authorities and other stakeholders through the country’s diplomatic mission, and described ongoing efforts to secure proper medical care for the injured, arrange transport of the deceased sailors’ remains back to Pakistan, and ensure the safe return of the surviving crew.

Puntland’s Maritime Police Force said separately that it has since rescued another oil tanker, days after this earlier operation ended with the attacking pirates escaping under what officials called suspicious circumstances. The force noted that Honour 25 was carrying roughly 18,500 barrels of oil at the time it was seized.

The incident adds to a sharp resurgence in piracy along the Gulf of Aden and the Somali coastline since April, with the International Maritime Organisation recording at least 15 attacks so far this year, the highest annual total since 2013. The renewed wave of hijackings has revived concerns about maritime security along one of the world’s busiest shipping corridors, a route that connects the Red Sea and the Suez Canal to the Indian Ocean and carries a significant share of global trade, raising fresh questions about the adequacy of current international naval patrols in the region as attacks climb back toward levels not seen in more than a decade.