Somali pirates killed five crew members aboard hijacked tanker, officials say
MOGADISHU, Somalia – Five crew members were killed aboard a Palau-flagged oil tanker seized off Somalia, authorities said, before security forces retook the vessel and arrested 16 suspected pirates.
- Advertisement -
The deaths aboard the MT Honour 25 were announced Tuesday.
They appear to be the first fatalities attributed to Somali pirates in more than a decade. The killings come as piracy resurges in the region, a trend experts have linked partly to the effects of the United States and Israel’s war on Iran.
Somali authorities said pirates captured the tanker on April 21 off the country’s coast. The vessel was carrying 18,500 barrels of oil.
The Information Ministry of Puntland State, a Federal State in northeastern Somalia, said a rescue operation had freed the ship and detained 16 suspected pirates.
“Before the operation began, the pirates on board the ship killed five of the crew,” the statement said. “Among those killed were three from Pakistan, one from Myanmar and one from India.”
Four other crew members were wounded, including three Pakistanis and one Indian, according to the ministry.
The Puntland State Maritime Police Force said in a social media post that the tanker was “safe” and under government control. Authorities were still working to locate others suspected of involvement in the hijacking, it said.
The operation came after maritime police last week freed the Sibu 1, a tanker sanctioned by the US that Somali pirates had seized in August.
However, 28 of the 41 pirates arrested during that operation later escaped while they were being taken to jail. Several Puntland State security officials accused local police of helping them flee.
Officials say at least 15 attacks have been reported off Somalia since April.
Somalia’s previous major piracy surge, which lasted from 2008 to 2014, disrupted one of the world’s busiest shipping routes, cost the global economy billions of dollars and generated hundreds of millions of dollars in ransom payments.
