KARACHI: Pakistan said Tuesday it was trying to verify reports that a tanker held by Somali pirates had been freed, after a rights group shared recordings it said came from crew members reporting five deaths and four injuries during an operation.

The Palau-flagged MT Honour 25 was seized off Somalia’s northeastern Puntland region on April 21 with 17 people aboard, including 10 Pakistanis. Their families have spent more than five months seeking information about the sailors and appealing for their release. Puntland is a semi-autonomous region of Somalia whose maritime police have carried out operations against pirates.

The Pakistani Ansar Burney Trust, which has been in contact with people it identifies as the tanker’s crew, gave Arab News recordings of calls it said it received on Tuesday. Voices on the recordings described gunfire, deaths and wounded sailors. Arab News heard the recordings but could not independently establish when they were made, authenticate the speakers or verify their accounts.

A Somali news outlet, meanwhile, reported that Puntland maritime police had taken control of the vessel and that its crew were safe. That account conflicts with the claims in the recordings. Arab News could not independently verify the outlet’s account or obtain official confirmation from Puntland authorities.

“Our Mission in Djibouti, concurrently accredited to Somalia, has received unconfirmed reports concerning the release of the vessel,” Foreign Office spokesman Sajjad Haider Khan told Arab News. “The Mission is in contact with the relevant authorities to ascertain the facts. Further information will be shared once official confirmation is available.”

The trust said a caller it identified as the tanker’s Indonesian captain reported that five crew members had died: three Pakistanis, an Indian and a Myanmar national. It said another caller, whom it identified as Pakistani engineer Syed Hussain Yousuf, reported that four people were wounded and appealed for urgent medical assistance. The casualty figures and the identities of those reported killed have not been independently confirmed.

In the recording attributed to Yousuf, the caller said the ship’s steering had been damaged and that another vessel was towing it toward Bosaso, a port in Puntland. Arab News could not verify the tanker’s location, its condition or whether medical assistance had reached anyone aboard.

The reported developments follow the rescue last week of the crew of SIBU 1, another tanker seized by pirates. Before Tuesday’s reports, people identified as crew members of MT Honour 25 had warned the trust that their captors were threatening to kill hostages if security forces attempted a similar operation against their vessel.

Pirate attacks have increased around Somalia and the Gulf of Aden this year. In August, the International Maritime Organization said more than 90 seafarers were being held captive in the region and warned that some lacked adequate food, water and medical care.