ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said on Thursday efforts were continuing to secure the release of ten Pakistani sailors held by Somali pirates since April, warning that the vessel’s highly explosive cargo limited rescue options and that such hostage situations often take months to settle.
The crew members were among 17 sailors aboard the Palau-flagged oil tanker MT Honour 25, which was seized by pirates off Somalia’s Puntland region on April 21.
Families of the hostages have previously said the crew had run out of clean drinking water and were surviving on limited food supplies while in captivity.
“Unfortunately, the situation remains grave,” Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi told a weekly news briefing in Islamabad.
“This ship is carrying very highly explosive cargo,” he added. “So, this makes any law enforcement action to get the release of the individuals ... a bit difficult. There is the safety of the people.”
The spokesperson said Pakistan had urged the Somali government and the ship owner to ensure that food, drinking water and other basic necessities continued to be supplied to the hostages while negotiations remained underway.
He said Pakistan’s embassy in Djibouti, which is accredited to Somalia, had remained engaged with Somali authorities and the ship owner, while officials from the embassy had previously visited Mogadishu to obtain first-hand information about the case.
“We remain engaged,” Andrabi said, adding: “All channels of communication with the ship owner and the Somali government are intact.”
The spokesperson acknowledged the concerns of relatives waiting for the crew’s return but pointed out piracy incidents in the region had historically taken months to resolve.
“Our heart goes out to the relatives of the individuals held captive,” he said. “We would want to assure them that this matter remains a priority.”
