Pakistan says Somali pirate hostage crisis could take months to resolve
Families of the captives have said the sailors had already exhausted their supply of clean drinking water and were enduring captivity on meagre food rations.
Friday June 5, 2026
This handout photograph taken on January 30, 2024 and released by the Indian Navy shows an Iranian fishing vessel after it has been freed by the Indian Navy from Somali pirates, off the Somali coast, some 850 nautical miles (1,574 kilometres) west of the Indian city of Kochi. (AFP/ file)
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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said on Thursday that efforts were still under way to win the release of ten Pakistani sailors held by Somali pirates since April, while warning that the vessel’s highly explosive cargo had narrowed the options for any rescue attempt and that hostage cases of this kind often drag on for months.
The men were among 17 crew members aboard the Palau-flagged oil tanker MT Honour 25, which pirates seized off Somalia’s Puntland State region on April 21.
Families of the captives have said the sailors had already exhausted their supply of clean drinking water and were enduring captivity on meagre food rations.
“Unfortunately, the situation remains grave,” Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi told a weekly news briefing in Islamabad.
“This ship is carrying very highly explosive cargo,” he added. “So, this makes any law enforcement action to get the release of the individuals … a bit difficult. There is the safety of the people.”
Andrabi said Pakistan had pressed both the Somali government and the ship owner to make sure food, drinking water and other essentials continued reaching the hostages while negotiations were still in progress.
He said Pakistan’s embassy in Djibouti, which is accredited to Somalia, had remained in contact with Somali officials and the vessel’s owner, and that diplomats had earlier travelled to Mogadishu to gather direct information on the case.
“We remain engaged,” Andrabi said, adding: “All channels of communication with the ship owner and the Somali government are intact.”
The spokesperson acknowledged the anxiety of relatives awaiting the crew’s return, but said piracy incidents in the region have historically taken months to resolve.
“Our heart goes out to the relatives of the individuals held captive,” he said. “We would want to assure them that this matter remains a priority.”
