The Men on the Ship
At approximately 4:30pm on April 21, families of ten Pakistani sailors received a text message from their loved ones aboard the MT Honour 25. Two words: “Agaye Pirates.” Pirates are here.
That was the last real communication before more than 50 armed Somali pirates seized the oil tanker approximately 30 nautical miles off the coast of Puntland, Somalia. Twenty-three days later, those same families are standing on a bridge in Karachi’s heat, holding photographs of missing fathers and husbands, while their government remains largely silent.
The ten Pakistani crew members trapped aboard are not abstractions. They are: Second Officer Syed Kashif Umar Naqvi, Second Engineer Syed Hussain Yusuf, Third Engineer Mahmood Ahmed Ansari, Fourth Engineer Usman Ghani, Seaman Aqeel Khan, Seaman Muhammad Yasin, Oiler Imran Ali, Oiler Rafiullah Khan, Oiler Yasir Khan, and Fitter Ameen bin Shams. Alongside them are six other crew members from Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka and Myanmar, under the command of a Filipino captain.
Ameen bin Shams, 29, left Karachi for his first-ever merchant navy contract before his son was born. His four-month-old child has never met him. His daughter Zimal, three years old, asks every day when her father is coming home. His wife Ayesha has stopped knowing how to answer.
Second Engineer Syed Hussain Yusuf’s wife said the last video call allowed by their captors left her shaken. “He did not look well,” she told reporters. Their teenage son cannot concentrate during his annual exams. “His brain isn’t functioning,” she said. “He’s worried about his dad and that’s all that’s on his mind.”
Running Out of Everything
The ship’s third officer, Kashif Umar, told his family that only rice remains on the vessel, boiled once a day. The crew has run out of its own drinking water. Pirates have forced them to drink dirty tank water. Fuel supplies are nearly exhausted. Several crew members have run out of essential medication.
A video that circulated in late April showed approximately a dozen men crammed into a suffocating cabin with no proper sleeping arrangements and barely enough space to sit or lie down. Families also reported accounts of physical abuse.
Why Authorities Cannot Simply Storm the Ship
Pakistan’s Foreign Office confirmed that the pirates are not negotiating with Islamabad. They are dealing directly with the ship’s owner, a Puntland-based businessman. No ransom figure has been officially confirmed, though Pakistani media have reported a demand of $7 million.
Somali authorities warned that storming the tanker risks triggering an explosion. The vessel is carrying approximately 18,500 barrels of flammable oil. EUNAVFOR Operation Atalanta warships and a Japanese Maritime Patrol aircraft from the Combined Maritime Forces are monitoring the situation from nearby but have not intervened militarily. Pakistan’s embassy team visited Somalia from May 7 to May 10 and was told the crew was safe. Families say that answer is not enough.
The Iran War Is Part of This Story
The MT Honour 25 had been caught in the currents of a much larger conflict before it was ever hijacked. The tanker departed Oman bound for Mogadishu, attempted to pass through the Strait of Hormuz during the US-Iran war, and was turned back. It was making its way along an alternative route when pirates struck.
Maritime analysts say the connection runs deeper than one ship. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz diverted naval patrols away from the Indian Ocean. Rising oil prices above $110 per barrel made fuel tankers far more valuable targets. Economic collapse in Puntland, driven partly by disrupted smuggling routes, pushed criminal networks back toward hijacking and ransom. US cuts to development aid eliminated what limited economic alternatives remained for coastal communities that have historically supplied pirate recruits.
The result: at least five vessels seized near Somalia in a single two-week window in April and May 2026. The Joint Maritime Information Centre has raised the regional maritime threat level to severe. The legal architecture that once prosecuted captured pirates, including a UN trust fund supporting trials in Kenya and the Seychelles, was closed in 2022. Arrests at sea now have nowhere to go.
Public Pressure and Government Silence
Families say that if the prime minister does not act, they will launch a hunger strike with their children in the coming days. Pakistani actor Mahira Khan posted on Instagram: “Why isn’t this being reported and what exactly are we doing to save so many of our own.” Rapper Talha Anjum said one of the sailors was “like a brother.”
The government’s response has been described by one wife as “callous” and “heartless.” Not a tweet. No video. No message.
For the families standing on the Native Jetty Bridge in Karachi, every extra day at sea feels like time running out.
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Sources: Reuters, Dawn, Al Jazeera, Express Tribune, Pakistan Today, DefenceWeb, Baird Maritime, Sri Lanka Guardian, Christian Bueger maritime security commentary.
