Families in Karachi demand rescue of Pakistani seamen held by Somali pirates

Families of Pakistani seamen gathered in Karachi on May 14 and demanded the safe return of relatives held by Somali pirates after the seizure of the MT Honour 25, a Palau-flagged product tanker taken on April 21 about 30 nautical miles off Somalia’s Puntland region. The ship carried 17 crew members, including 10 Pakistanis, and relatives said Syed Hussain Yousuf had been reduced to drinking dirty tank water and eating boiled rice after clean water ran out on board.

The family members described the strain in stark personal terms. Ambreen Fatima said her husband was not looking well during a recent video call, and she said the ordeal had already taken a toll on their children. One daughter was hospitalized for two days, while a teenage son struggled to concentrate on exams as the family waited for news from the hijacked vessel.

The hostage crisis has unfolded against a renewed wave of piracy off northern Somalia. EUNAVFOR Operation Atalanta confirmed piracy incidents involving the Honour 25 and the merchant vessel SWARD, while the U.K. Maritime Trade Operations said on April 24 that unauthorized persons had taken control of the tanker and moved it 77 nautical miles south within Somali territorial waters. Atalanta’s April newsletter said its own aircraft and Combined Maritime Forces air assets confirmed the tanker’s location inside Somali territorial waters, underscoring how far the vessel had been pushed from the point of seizure.

The wider security warning is severe. UKMTO’s May 5 advisory said piracy risk remained critical, with three merchant vessels held by Somali pirates and a hijacked dhow apparently being used as a pirate mothership to extend the range of attacks across the Somali Coast and the Somali Basin. Other reporting said the Honour 25 was believed to be carrying about 18,500 barrels of fuel and that six armed men were aboard, adding to the difficulty of any rescue attempt because the cargo was flammable. Pakistan’s Foreign Office said on April 30 that the tanker was anchored off Eyl in Puntland, and a Pakistani embassy team that visited Somalia from May 7 to 10 was told the crew were safe. Officials also said they could not storm the vessel.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said it was deeply alarmed by the crew’s continued captivity and called for urgent action. The case has revived fears that Somali pirates are again exploiting regional instability and disrupted shipping corridors at a moment when the strategic value of routes through the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean is rising, with the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed by the Iran war. For shipping lines, insurers and governments, the threat is no longer a relic of the past but a live risk to trade, crews and the security of international sea lanes.