Family of Pakistani sailor seized by Somali pirates seeks safe return

Ismail DilawarFriday May 1, 2026

The collage created on April 30, 2026, shows (left) Syed Hussain Yousuf’s daughter looking at his photo on a mobile phone, pleading for his safe return, and (right) a photo of Syed Hussain Yousuf. (AN Photo)

A family in Karachi is living through every parent’s worst fear after a pirate assault off Somalia stranded a Pakistani tanker crew member at sea and pulled his 12-year-old daughter out of school.

Syeda Masooma Batool has not been attending classes since the MT Honour 25 was seized on Apr. 21 in the Gulf of Aden near the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, with her father, Syed Hussain Yousaf, among at least 11 Pakistani crew members taken hostage along with the vessel’s Indonesian captain.

Since the hijacking, Yousaf’s wife and three children say they have heard nothing definite about his condition and have been left pleading for action to bring him home.

“We feel very worried and don’t know what will happen,” Batool said. “I am not even going to school.”

“Today I made an exception and went to school,” the sixth-grade student added. “Even there, my friends were asking when my father would return, but I didn’t have an answer to give.”

Officials say Pakistan is pressing the case through diplomatic channels, with the foreign affairs ministry in contact with Somali authorities.

“Pakistani government is in contact with Somali maritime authorities, Somali Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the release of Pakistani crew members aboard the hijacked oil tanker,” foreign affairs spokesperson Tahir Andrabi told Arab News.

“The government is also in contact with the private company that owns the oil tanker,” he added, saying Somali officials had assured Pakistan that efforts were underway to secure the sailors’ release.

For Batool’s family, however, those statements have done little to relieve the tension, especially because they still do not know what the pirates want.

Batool’s mother, Amreen Yousaf, said her last meaningful conversation with her husband came on the day the tanker was taken.

“I last spoke to him on Apr. 21,” she said. “After that, we lost contact for two days. Then we got information from another family that his ship had been hijacked.”

“My heart will only find peace when I get some response from there [Somalia],” she added. “I need a lot of support. Because, right now, my children and I are going through a lot of difficulties. And I don’t know how my husband is doing there.”

She said she later managed a brief call with him after the hijacking and said his words suggested the situation aboard the ship was worsening.

“He told me that the food and drink that had been rationed [on the vessel] had finished,” she said.

Amreen said Yousaf had also told her the pirates had “some demands,” though he did not say what those demands were.

That uncertainty has only sharpened the family’s anguish, with relatives calling for better coordination and clearer communication from the authorities.

“We wanted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to form a committee on this and appoint a focal person who can coordinate with the families,” said Syed Talib Raza, Yousaf’s nephew. “It should not be that families are running from pillar to post.”

“Until now, that focal person has not been appointed,” he added. “There is no official contact with the families, which would have allowed us to call that focal person once a week and ask what has happened.”

Pakistan’s Ministry of Maritime Affairs said it has stepped up its diplomatic push, including writing to Somalia’s ambassador to Pakistan.

“There is deep concern over the safety of Pakistani maritime crew,” Muhammad Arshad, the ministry’s spokesman, said.

He said Somali authorities were following the situation closely and had passed details about the vessel to their security agencies.

“All new developments regarding the ship and crew will be immediately shared with Pakistan,” he said.

At the Yousaf home, though, such assurances have done little to ease the waiting. Batool sits with her siblings and tries to keep her mind occupied by writing in her school notebook.

When asked about her father, she pressed her hands together and made one last appeal.

“I am begging you to bring my father back safely,” she said.