KARACHI: Families of 10 Pakistani sailors held by Somali pirates aboard a tanker said on Sunday they have lost contact with the crew and do not know their whereabouts, as fears grew for the hostages following a military operation that freed sailors from another hijacked vessel.

The Palau-flagged MT Honour 25 was seized off Somalia’s Puntland region on April 21 with 17 crew members aboard, including 10 Pakistanis, who have now been held for more than five months.

The pirates have threatened to kill the hostages if security forces attempt an operation against the vessel, according to messages received by a Pakistani rights group involved in the case.

Mahwish Yasir, whose husband Yasir Khan is among the captive sailors, said none of the families had been able to communicate directly with the crew following the latest developments.

“None of us have been in contact with them,” she told Arab News. “We have no idea of their location, nor is there any news from there. Nothing at all.”

Yasir said the lack of information had left the families worried.

“Entire families are deeply distressed and in immense anxiety,” she said.

The fresh alarm comes after maritime forces in Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region on Friday rescued SIBU 1, another tanker seized by pirates, with authorities saying all 20 crew members aboard were safe.

Puntland officials told AFP that pirates holding three other tankers, including Honour 25, had subsequently moved south toward Hobyo in neighboring Galmudug state.

The Ansar Burney Trust International, which has been in contact with the crew and their captors, said it received a fresh photograph and message on Sept. 25 from Honour 25’s Indonesian captain, Ashari Samadikun, warning of threats against those aboard.

“The pirates have repeatedly threatened the crew of MT Honour 25 with firearms, stating that they will kill us if any attack or military operation is conducted against our vessel,” Samadikun said in the message shared with Arab News.

He urged relevant authorities to prioritize the safety of the crew and avoid any operation that could provoke retaliation against them.

Qurratulain Muhammad Anis, a legal adviser at the Ansar Burney Trust International, said threats against the crew had begun several days before the SIBU 1 operation.

She said the Trust had been receiving calls since around Sept. 18 or 19 in which the captors threatened to take crew members off the ship and move them inland to an area without Internet access or tracking.

“They kept saying that if any attack was made against them, they would kill everyone,” Anis told Arab News.

She said the pirates were demanding $1.9 million for the hostages’ release and that the Trust had informed Pakistani authorities of the demand.

She said its last formal communication with the government was on Sept. 16, when authorities acknowledged receipt of information submitted by the organization.

Anis added that according to the Trust’s latest information, all crew members remained alive and there had been no report of serious illness, though food and medicines remained inadequate and the sailors were facing intense psychological pressure from their captors.

She said some crew members had been forced at gunpoint to make calls conveying the pirates’ threats.

Foreign Office spokesperson Sajjad Haider Khan told Arab News on Sunday that, to his knowledge, the ministry had not received the Sept. 25 message containing the latest threats.

Pakistan’s Foreign Office has previously said the Ministry of Human Rights was designated as the focal point for the case, working with the foreign and maritime affairs ministries.

Islamabad has also engaged Somali authorities and sought assistance from the International Maritime Organization to secure the sailors’ release.

Arab News sought comment from the Ministry of Human Rights on whether it had received the captain’s latest message, what steps were being taken to secure the crew’s release, its coordination with other authorities and whether officials were in contact with the families, but had not received a response by the time of filing.

Aisha Ameen, wife of captive fitter Ameen bin Shams, said the families were receiving no substantive information about efforts to bring the sailors home.

“No one has contacted us,” she told Arab News. “The agencies are only sending messages asking us to just pray for their safe return. We are not getting any news from anywhere.”