Picture shared by Ansar Burney Trust on September 25, 2026, showing Pakistani sailors kidnapped by Somali pirates. (Ansar Burney Trust)
ISLAMABAD: Four Pakistani sailors held for more than five months by Somali pirates are expected to reach Karachi on Saturday, while officials work to repatriate the bodies of three compatriots who died in captivity, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said Friday.
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The Palau-flagged oil tanker MT Honour 25 was seized off Puntland State, a semi-autonomous region in northeastern Somalia, on April 21. The vessel was carrying 17 crew members, including 10 Pakistanis. Regional security forces retook control of the tanker on Sept. 29, bringing the hostage crisis to an end.
The prolonged captivity prompted repeated protests by sailors’ families in Karachi and appeals for government action. The crisis is not yet fully resolved: three Pakistani survivors remain aboard alongside the captain, while arrangements are under way to return the bodies of those who died.
“The four Pakistani crew members have been safely retrieved and are scheduled to arrive in Karachi tomorrow, 3 October,” Dar, who also serves as deputy prime minister, wrote on X.
He said the Foreign Office and Pakistan’s embassy in Djibouti, which is also responsible for diplomatic relations with Somalia, had helped secure the sailors’ return. Dar named them as Yasir Khan, Aqeel Khan, Amin bin Shams and Usman Ghani.
Authorities are fast-tracking legal and other formalities to bring back the remains of Rafi Ullah Khan, Syed Kashif Umer and Mahmood Ahmed Ansari, he said, without providing a timetable for their arrival.
“My heartfelt condolences go to the bereaved families, who are going through a deeply painful time,” Dar said.
Puntland State authorities said five sailors were killed before the recovery operation—three Pakistanis, one Indian and one Myanmar national. Pakistan later confirmed the deaths of its citizens and said three other Pakistanis were among four injured crew members receiving treatment in hospital.
Puntland State’s maritime police said naval and ground forces located the tanker near Bandar Beyla, a coastal district, detained suspected pirates and placed the vessel under the control of the regional government.
The force said the five sailors had been killed by the pirates before security forces moved in. The exact circumstances surrounding their deaths have not been independently verified.
Dar did not say why the three surviving Pakistani sailors had not yet left the tanker or indicate when they would be brought home.
“We are actively coordinating with our friendly countries to facilitate their safe extraction and earliest possible return to Pakistan, inshaAllah,” he said.
