Puntland forces rescue tanker MT Honour 25 from Somali pirates after five months
Security forces from Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland state have rescued the Palau-flagged tanker MT Honour 25, seized by pirates in April with 17 crew members aboard, including 10 Pakistanis.
Security forces from Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland state have rescued the MT Honour 25, a Palau-flagged petroleum products tanker seized by pirates in April, Puntland’s state television channel reported on Tuesday.
The broadcaster said the pirates who had been holding the vessel had been detained and would be brought to court. Puntland officials did not respond to requests for comment.
The MT Honour 25 was seized on April 21 around 30 nautical miles off Puntland’s coast with 17 crew members on board, including 10 Pakistanis, according to Reuters. Puntland police said the vessel had 18,500 barrels of oil aboard when it was hijacked.
The rescue follows a similar Puntland counter-piracy operation last week, when the regional maritime police force said it had freed the US-sanctioned tanker Sibu 1, which Somali pirates had hijacked in August.
Conflicting reports have emerged about casualties during the operation. The Pakistani rights group Ansar Burney Trust gave Arab News recordings of calls it said it received on Tuesday from people it identified as the tanker’s crew, describing gunfire, deaths and wounded sailors — accounts Arab News said it could not independently verify. A Somali news outlet, meanwhile, reported that Puntland maritime police had taken control of the vessel and that its crew were safe, and Pakistan’s Foreign Office said it was seeking official confirmation of the reports.
The episode underlines the resurgence of Somali piracy, with at least 15 attacks reported since April — the highest since 2013, according to Al Arabiya English. An earlier wave of Somali piracy from 2008 to 2014 disrupted one of the world’s busiest shipping routes and cost the global economy billions of dollars.
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