Families of some of the crew members of an oil tanker hijacked off the coast of Somalia have staged a protest in Karachi, demanding the release of their relatives who have been held captive by Somali pirates for 23 days.
The Palau-flagged MT Honour 25 was hijacked on April 21 about 30 nautical miles off the coast of Puntland with 17 crew members, 10 of whom are Pakistani.
Ambreen Fatima, one of the protesters, said her husband, Syed Hussain Yousuf, a second engineer on the ship, is now living on “dirty water in the ship’s tanks” after a shortage of clean water.
She said her daughter was hospitalized for two days due to stress and fear, while her 16-year-old son, who is sitting for exams this year, has been unable to focus on his studies.
“His mind is not working. He is worried about his father, that is all that is on his mind,” Fatima said.
Five families of the hostages protested at the Native Jetty bridge near Karachi’s main port, carrying banners demanding the government return their people.
The families said the crew occasionally contacted their families briefly, telling them that the ship had run out of clean water and that they were now drinking dirty water and eating boiled rice once a day.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry spokesman, Tahir Andrabi, said the pirates had not contacted the Pakistani government and had shown no interest in negotiations.
He said the ship’s owner was in talks with the pirates and was in touch with the Somali government, which was sharing new information with Islamabad.
Officials from the Pakistani embassy in Djibouti visited Somalia between May 7 and 10 and were told that the crew were safe, but that Somali forces could not attack the ship as it was carrying flammable fuel.
At least three ships were hijacked off the coast of Puntland in April, prompting a high-level alert from the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations.
