ISLAMABAD/ KARACHI: Three Pakistani sailors were among five crew members killed by pirates before Puntland forces secured a hijacked oil tanker, the region’s maritime police said on Tuesday, adding that the five were killed before its operation to retake the vessel began.

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 repeatedly appealed for information and help securing their release.

The Puntland Maritime Police Force said an Indian and a Myanmar national were also killed. Three Pakistanis and an Indian were wounded, it said. The force did not identify the dead or say precisely when they were killed, beyond stating that the deaths occurred before its operation began.

“The vessel is now safe and under Puntland Government control,” the force said in a post on X. It said 21 suspected pirates had been apprehended and a search for others was continuing.

In a separate Somali-language statement, the force said it had carried out the operation off Dharin-baar in Puntland’s Bandar Beyla district. It did not say whether the wounded sailors had received medical treatment or where the surviving crew had been taken. Arab News could not independently verify the casualty figures.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Pakistani Ansar Burney Trust gave Arab News recordings of calls it said came from crew members reporting five deaths and four injuries. Arab News heard the recordings but could not authenticate the speakers, establish when the calls were made or independently verify their accounts.

Pakistan’s Foreign Office had said before Puntland’s announcement that its mission in Djibouti, which is also accredited to Somalia, was contacting authorities to verify reports of the tanker’s release. It has yet to confirm the sailors’ identities or the casualties.

The operation follows Puntland’s recovery last week of the SIBU 1, another tanker seized by pirates. Before Tuesday’s operation, people identified as crew members of MT Honour 25 had warned the Ansar Burney Trust that their captors were threatening to kill hostages if security forces tried to retake the vessel.