Somali pirates killed five crew members on hijacked tanker, officials say

The deaths appear to be the first at the hands of Somali pirates in more than a decade.

Al Jazeera2026-09-30 02:39查看原文 ↗

The deaths appear to be the first at the hands of Somali pirates in more than a decade.

Families of the Pakistani hostage crew members of the oil tanker Honour 25, which was hijacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia, hold placards during a protest calling on the government to take immediate action for the safe return of their loved ones, in Karachi, Pakistan, May 13, 2026 [Akhtar Soomro/Reuters]

Pirates have killed five crew members on board a Palau-flagged oil tanker off the coast of Somalia before security forces rescued the ship, according to Somali authorities.

The deaths on the tanker, the MT Honour 25, were announced on Tuesday.

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They appear to be the first deaths at ⁠the hands of Somali pirates in more than a decade and come amid a resurgence of Somali piracy that experts have attributed in part to the effects of the United States and Israel’s war on Iran.

The MT Honour 25, which authorities said was carrying 18,500 barrels of oil, was seized by pirates off Somalia on April 21.

The Information Ministry of Puntland, a semiautonomous region of Somalia, said in a statement that a rescue mission had freed the ship and captured 16 suspected pirates.

“Before the operation began, the pirates on board the ship killed five of the crew,” the statement said. “Among those killed were three from Pakistan, one from Myanmar and one from India.”

Four other crew members, three Pakistanis and one Indian, were injured, it said.

In a post on social media, the Puntland Maritime Police Force said the vessel was “safe” and under the government’s control. It said efforts were continuing to find others involved in the hijacking.

The rescue follows another operation last week in which the maritime police freed the Sibu 1, a tanker sanctioned by the US that Somali pirates had hijacked in August.

But 28 of the 41 pirates arrested in that operation later escaped while being transferred to jail, and several Puntland security officials accused local police of complicity.

At least 15 attacks have been reported off Somalia since April, according to officials.

A previous wave of piracy, from 2008 to 2014, disrupted one of the world’s busiest shipping routes, cost the global economy billions of dollars and resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in ransom payments.

这是十多年来索马里海盗首次造成人员死亡。

2026年5月13日，在巴基斯坦卡拉奇，被索马里海盗劫持的油轮“荣誉25号”的巴基斯坦籍船员家属举着标语牌举行抗议活动，呼吁政府立即采取行动，确保他们的亲人安全返回。[Akhtar Soomro/路透社]

据索马里当局称，海盗在索马里海岸附近杀害了一艘悬挂帕劳国旗的油轮上的五名船员，之后安全部队救起了这艘船。

周二，MT Honour 25 号油轮上的死亡事件被公布。

列表 1/3：索马里海盗活动死灰复燃，武装分子在也门附近劫持油轮

列表 2/3 土耳其、索马里联手解救被海盗劫持的货船

问题 3（共 3 个）：为什么索马里沿海的海盗活动再次抬头？

这似乎是十多年来索马里海盗造成的首批死亡事件，而此时索马里海盗活动正在死灰复燃，专家们认为这部分是由于美国和以色列对伊朗发动的战争所致。

4月21日，MT Honour 25号油轮在索马里附近海域被海盗劫持，当局称该船载有18500桶石油。

索马里半自治地区邦特兰的信息部在一份声明中表示，救援行动解救了这艘船，并抓获了 16 名涉嫌海盗。

声明称：“行动开始前，船上的海盗杀害了五名船员。死者中有三名巴基斯坦人、一名缅甸人和一名印度人。”

声明称，另有四名船员受伤，其中三人为巴基斯坦人，一人为印度人。