Five crew members of an oil tanker seized off the coast of Somalia were killed by pirates before regional security forces retook the vessel, a senior official has confirmed.
Puntland Deputy Information Minister Bile Qabowsade told sources that the five were killed before forces boarded the MT Honour 25. The Puntland Information Ministry confirmed the deaths in a separate statement.
"Before the operation began, the pirates on board the ship killed five of the crew," the ministry's statement said. "Among those killed were three from Pakistan, one from Myanmar and one from India."
Four other crew members were injured in the incident, including three Pakistani nationals and one Indian.
The tanker, flagged to Palau, was carrying approximately 18,500 barrels of oil destined for the Somali capital, Mogadishu, when it was seized on April 21 by six armed men while sailing off the Somali coast. The vessel was anchored near the coast between the fishing towns of Xaafun and Bander Beyla.
Sixteen suspected pirates have been arrested following a rescue operation by the Puntland Maritime Police Force (PMPF). Others escaped and were being pursued, officials said.
Qabowsade rejected suggestions that Puntland forces had helped some of the pirates escape. Authorities have not provided further details on how the five crew members were killed or how the pirates initially took control of the vessel.
India's embassy in Kenya said it was "deeply saddened" by the killing of the Indian crew member. "All other Indian seafarers on board are reportedly safe, including those on MT Sibu 1 and MT Eureka, which have also been recently rescued," the embassy added in a post on social media.
The PMPF said the vessel was "safe" and under government control, adding that efforts were continuing to find others involved in the hijacking.
Puntland's Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Mohamed Abdulkadir Salah, said the operation demonstrated the region's capacity to secure its own waters. "Many questioned Puntland's ability to govern and secure its own waters," he said. "With this operation by the PMPF, we have demonstrated that we have the ability to do so, and we have made it clear that we will."
The deaths appear to be the first at the hands of Somali pirates in more than a decade, according to reports, and come amid a broader resurgence of piracy off the Somali coast. At least 15 attacks have been reported off Somalia since April, according to officials.
The rescue follows a separate operation last week in which the maritime police freed the Sibu 1, a tanker that Somali pirates had hijacked in August. However, 28 of the 41 pirates arrested in that operation later escaped while being transferred to jail. Several Puntland security officials accused local police of complicity in the escape.
Mohamed Mubarak, head of Puntland's security coordination office, said pirates were not currently holding any ships in waters off Puntland's coast. He added that one vessel, the MT Asana, hijacked in July, remained near the coast off the town of Ceel Huur in the waters of neighbouring Galmudug state.
When the MT Honour 25 was first seized in April, officials reported 17 crew members on board, including 10 Pakistanis, four Indonesians, one Indian, one Sri Lankan and one Myanmar national.
Piracy off the Somali coast fell sharply after 2011 following international naval operations. 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.
