GAROWE — Somali pirates killed five crew members on board the hijacked oil tanker MT Honour 25 before Puntland security forces rescued the vessel, according to a statement from the Puntland Information Ministry. The deaths appear to be the first at the hands of Somali pirates in more than a decade.
The Honour 25, a Palau-flagged vessel carrying 18,500 barrels of oil, was seized by pirates on April 21, 2026, off Somalia’s northern coast. The Puntland Maritime Police Force (PMPF) announced on Tuesday that a rescue operation had freed the ship and captured 16 suspected pirates. According to the Puntland Information Ministry, “Before the operation began, the pirates on board the ship killed five of the crew. 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 in the incident. India’s embassy in Kenya said it was “deeply saddened” by the killing of the Indian crew member, adding that all other Indian seafarers on board were reportedly safe, including those on the MT Sibu 1 and MT Eureka, which have also been recently rescued.
The Honour 25 had been held by pirates for more than five months, one of at least six vessels hijacked off Somalia’s coast in 2026. As reported in FTL Somalia’s coverage of the hijacking, the vessel was carrying approximately 17 crew members, most of them Pakistani nationals, and raised concerns about potential fuel shortages in Mogadishu.
The Rescue Operation
The PMPF said the vessel was “safe” and under government control, and that efforts were continuing to find others involved in the hijacking. Puntland’s Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Mohamed Abdulkadir Salah, told Al Jazeera that the operation demonstrated Puntland’s ability to govern and secure its own waters. “Many questioned Puntland’s ability to govern and secure its own waters. 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 rescue follows another operation last week in which the PMPF freed the Sibu 1, a tanker sanctioned by the US that Somali pirates had hijacked in August. However, as detailed in FTL Somalia’s coverage of the piracy crisis, 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.
A Resurgence of Piracy
The killings mark the first deaths at the hands of Somali pirates since the peak of the piracy crisis more than a decade ago. At least 15 attacks have been reported off Somalia since April 2026, according to officials. Mohamed Mubarak, head of Puntland’s security coordination office, said pirates were not holding any ships in waters off Puntland’s coast, adding that one vessel, the MT Asana, hijacked in July, remains near the coast off the town of Ceel Huur in neighbouring Galmudug state.
The resurgence of piracy has been attributed in part to the diversion of international naval assets toward the Red Sea, where Iran-backed Houthi rebels have been attacking shipping, creating a security vacuum that pirate groups have exploited. As reported in FTL Somalia’s coverage of the resurgence, pirates have converted hijacked vessels into “motherships” to launch attacks further into the Indian Ocean, a tactic reminiscent of the 2008-2011 piracy crisis.
The International Maritime Organization has warned that more than 90 seafarers are being held hostage across multiple vessels, with their humanitarian situation deteriorating rapidly due to severe shortages of food and water and daily threats of violence. As detailed in FTL Somalia’s coverage of the IMO warning, IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez called for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, stating that “more than 90 innocent seafarers are now being held captive, their lives subject to constant uncertainty and threat.”
Critical Note
The killing of five crew members on the Honour 25 marks a significant and troubling escalation in the resurgence of Somali piracy. For more than a decade, the prevailing assumption has been that Somali pirates, however ruthless in their business model, have generally avoided killing hostages because dead captives have no ransom value. That assumption has now been shattered.
The circumstances of the killings remain unclear. The Puntland statement says the pirates killed the crew “before the operation began,” suggesting the deaths were either a deliberate act of retaliation as security forces closed in, or a breakdown in the pirates’ control over their captives after months of detention. Either explanation points to a disturbing reality: pirate groups operating off Somalia’s coast are increasingly willing to use lethal violence, whether as a bargaining tactic or as an end in itself.
The broader context is equally concerning. The piracy resurgence has been enabled by the diversion of international naval resources to the Red Sea, where Houthi attacks have drawn attention and assets away from the Gulf of Aden and the Somali coast. Puntland has demonstrated that its maritime police force can conduct successful rescue operations, but it cannot fill the gap left by the withdrawal of international patrols on its own. The escape of 28 pirates from custody in the Sibu 1 case, with allegations of police complicity, raises further questions about the integrity of Puntland’s security institutions.
For the international community, the killings on the Honour 25 should serve as a wake-up call. The piracy crisis of 2008-2011 cost the global economy an estimated $18 billion annually at its peak and resulted in hundreds of seafarers being taken hostage. The conditions that enabled that crisis, poverty in coastal communities, illegal fishing by foreign vessels, and a security vacuum at sea, are re-emerging. Without a renewed international commitment to maritime security and a coordinated strategy that addresses both the symptoms and the root causes, the current resurgence could escalate into a full-blown crisis.
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