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Five crewmembers of the captured vessel Honour 25 were killed before authorities managed to retake the vessel and rescue the remaining crew on 29 September. Four more crewmembers were injured in the operation.
Vessel HONOUR 25, image credit: PMPF
The Paulao-flagged vessel was initially hijacked on 21 April earlier this year while approximately 30 nautical miles off Puntland.
The vessel remained in captivity for almost five months before being recovered by authorities. The rescue operation involved Puntland security forces and, reportedly, the Puntland Maritime Security Force.
Reports state that the pirates killed five of the captured crewmembers and injured four others before the rescue operation began. However, survivor accounts indicate that the killings occurred as the pirates were resisting or fleeing the authorities. Among the five killed were three Pakistani nationals, one Indian national, and one Myanmar national.
The Puntland Maritime Police Force (PMPF) has stated that it captured 16 pirates and is pursuing others who escaped.
These are the first killings of crewmembers in an act of piracy in more than a decade. The earlier Somali piracy crisis, particularly from 2008 to 2014, was generally associated with hostage-taking and ransom demands rather than frequent killings of hostages. Somali piracy has seen a recent resurgence, with around 15 attacks since April of this year.
