The four injured Pakistanis rescued from the hijacked vessel MT Honour 25, along with the mortal remains of three colleagues, departed Addis Ababa and were expected to arrive in Karachi on Sunday evening, according to the Foreign Office.
The four injured crew members were identified as Usman Ghani, Aqeel Khan, Ameen bin Shams and Yasir Khan. The remains of Rafi Ullah Khan, Syed Kashif Umer and Mahmood Ahmad Ansari were also being repatriated. In a post on the Foreign Office’s social media, officials said Pakistan’s ambassadors to Djibouti and Ethiopia saw off the group from Addis Ababa, and that they were arriving in Karachi aboard Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 694.
The seven were among 10 Pakistanis aboard the MT Honour 25, which was hijacked by Somali pirates in April. Besides the Pakistanis, the vessel’s crew also included seven Indonesians, an Indian and a Sri Lankan.
For roughly five months, there was no progress either in negotiations or in the payment of a ransom, reported to be around $3 million, for the recovery of the hostages, even as concerns mounted over their declining health. Since the hijacking, the crew made several emotional video and audio appeals, reporting that they had run out of clean water, food and medicine. The Foreign Office maintained that it remained actively engaged to secure the release of the sailors.
On September 29, Somali maritime police recovered the Palau-flagged oil tanker amid reports of casualties among the crew. During the operation, 21 suspected pirates were apprehended, while operations to locate the remaining members continued. According to officials, before the operation began, the pirates on board the ship killed five of the crew. Among those killed were three from Pakistan, one from Myanmar and one from India.
Advocate Quratulain of the Ansar Burney Trust, however, gave a separate account of the events, saying the pirates had brought the hostages onto the deck when they realised Puntland forces were approaching.
The return of the rescued Pakistanis from the MT Honour 25 episode closes a months-long ordeal for their families, who had waited through stalled negotiations and distressing appeals from the crew. The repatriation of both the injured and the remains brings to an end a chapter that highlighted the risks faced by seafarers in one of the world’s most dangerous shipping corridors.
Source: Dawn News