Pakistani sailors say they have run out of food supplies, medicine and drinking water
Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 recover a suspected Chinese high-altitude surveillance balloon that was shot down by the United States over the weekend over U.S. territorial waters off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, U.S., February 5, 2023. US Fleet Forces/US Navy photo/Ud-out/File Photo
KARACHI:
Sailors, including Pakistanis, held captive aboard the Somali oil tanker Honer 25 have run out of food supplies, medicine and drinking water, crew members told their families on Saturday.
The oil tanker, traveling from Oman to Somalia, was seized by more than 50 pirates on April 21. There are a total of 17 crew members on board, 10 of whom are Pakistani.
On Saturday, the pirates allowed the seventeen kidnapped sailors to contact their families. The Pakistani sailors were also given phone calls every five minutes to talk to their relatives.
According to the ship’s 3rd officer, Kashif Umar, who is from Karachi, there is only rice left on the vessel, which is cooked and eaten once a day.
He said that three crew members are sick, but all the medicine on board has also run out. Kashif added that the biggest problem is drinking water.
“They are now forced to drink the dirty, muddy water that the pirates use because the pirates have exhausted the crew’s own water supply,” Umar said.
The Ansar Burney Trust also received a video message from the ship’s captain, who is from the Philippines. In the video, the captain shows documents that describe the ship’s owner.
He appealed to the government of Pakistan to contact both the pirates and the ship’s owner as soon as possible to secure the release of the Pakistani citizens.
The head of the Ansar Burney Trust said they were repeatedly contacted from the ship with pleas for help, but the government had remained completely silent on the matter.
He added that the trust could not do much for the release of the Pakistani sailors unless the government cooperated with them.
It is the second time in 22 that the pirates have allowed the hostages to contact their families and the trust.
Last week, Foreign Ministry spokesman Tahir Andrabi said during a weekly briefing that Pakistan was in contact with the Somali government about the hostage situation involving Pakistani sailors aboard the hijacked oil tanker, adding that they believed the crew members were safe. He said Pakistan’s embassy in Djibouti had approached the Somali authorities, including the foreign ministry, and was informed that the vessel was anchored off the coast of Eyl in Puntland, a semi-autonomous region of Somalia.
“We have reasonable grounds to believe that our crew members are safe,” the FO spokesman said, adding that the Somali Foreign Ministry had been “very cooperative” and was closely monitoring the situation.
