Four Months of Waiting
For more than four months, 10 Pakistani sailors have been trapped aboard a hijacked tanker off Somalia. Back home, their families have protested, pleaded with the government and waited through repeated distress messages describing deteriorating conditions at sea.
The MT Honour 25, a Palau-flagged oil tanker, was hijacked by armed pirates off Puntland on April 21. The 10 Pakistanis are part of a multinational crew, although reports have differed over the vessel’s exact total crew count.
For their families, those discrepancies mean little. Aisha Ameen’s husband, Ameen Bin Shams, remains aboard the vessel. Their daughter recently spent her fourth birthday without him, while their seven-month-old son has never seen his father. Other families have described children struggling with school and the psychological strain of not knowing when their fathers will return.
Rice, Contaminated Water and No Medicine
Conditions aboard have become increasingly alarming.
In a June 16 distress message, Indonesian captain Ashari Samadikun said several crew members had become seriously ill, including sailors suffering from diabetes and infections. He said the crew was surviving on plain white rice and contaminated water.
More than 100 days after the hijacking, new videos dated August 7 showed crew members appearing sick and weak. Pakistani hostage Yasir Khan said several sailors were ill and lacked access to medicine, appealing for government intervention before conditions deteriorated further.
The Price of Freedom: $3 Million
The pirates are demanding $3 million.
Pakistan’s Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry confirmed the figure in the National Assembly in August. He also explained the government’s dilemma: paying could have wider consequences and encourage further ransom-driven piracy where state authority is already weak.
That leaves the families trapped inside a brutal equation. Refusing ransom may discourage future hijackings, but every additional day leaves 10 Pakistani citizens in captivity.
An Ownership Crisis Is Complicating Negotiations
The deadlock is not simply about money.
The captain said the hijackers were refusing to negotiate with third parties and wanted direct negotiations with the company named in the vessel’s documentation. Reporting has described uncertainty surrounding responsibility for the vessel and called the situation an “ownership crisis.”
That confusion has added another obstacle to negotiations already involving pirates, private commercial interests, Somali authorities and several governments.
Pakistan Takes the Case International
Pakistan says it has intensified diplomatic efforts.
On August 13, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar directed officials to increase engagement with Somali authorities and international organisations.
On August 24, Dar met International Maritime Organization Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez in London and requested “urgent and effective institutional intervention” to help secure the sailors’ return.
Yet the fundamental fact remains unchanged: there is still no release agreement.
Ten Sailors Are Still Waiting
The MT Honour 25 crisis is ultimately about people caught between piracy, diplomacy and an unresolved ransom demand.
Their families have spent months protesting and asking for intervention. Their sailors have sent messages describing sickness and deteriorating living conditions. Pakistan has escalated the case diplomatically but argues that paying pirates risks encouraging the next hijacking.
More than four months after the tanker was seized, 10 Pakistani sailors still have no way home.
By Shizza Umer
Read more about this at verumnetwork.com.
Sources
Arab News: Pakistani sailors’ families count birthdays, missed exams as piracy ordeal drags on
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2654930/pakistan
Dawn: Pakistani hostages issue new distress message
https://www.dawn.com/news/2021700
Dawn: Captured by Somali pirates, victims of an ownership crisis
https://epaper.dawn.com/DetailImage.php?StoryImage=25_07_2026_001_009
Express Tribune: Somali pirates demand $3 million ransom
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2624836/somali-pirates-demand-3m-ransom-1
Dawn: Dar seeks urgent IMO intervention
https://www.dawn.com/news/2024989
Arab News / Reuters: Families call for sailors’ rescue
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2643483/pakistan
