Five crew members of Somali hijacked tanker murdered before rescue

The MT Hoarner 25, carrying about 18,500 barrels of oil bound for Mogadishu, was seized by six armed men off the coast of Somalia in late‑April. According to Puntland Deputy Information Minister Bile Qabowsade, five crew members were killed before security forces boarded the ship.

The deceased were three Pakistani nationals, one Indian and one from Myanmar. Four other crew members, including three Pakistanis and an Indian, were injured during the hijack. The tanker had originally carried 17 crew members – ten Pakistanis, four Indonesians, an Indian, a Sri Lankan and a Myanmar national – before the incident.

Puntland forces arrested sixteen suspected pirates, while others escaped and are still being pursued. Authorities have not yet explained how the killings occurred or why some pirates fled with the vessel.

The hijacked tanker was anchored near the fishing towns of Xaafun and Bander Beyla on the Somali coast. The incident underscores a growing resurgence of piracy off Somalia’s coast, which had declined sharply after 2011 following international naval interventions.