Aircraft carrying four injured crew members, remains of three MT Honour 25 sailors lands in Karachi
An aircraft carrying four injured crew members and the remains of three MT Honour 25 sailors landed in Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport on Sunday.Â
Sindh Governor Nehal Hashmi welcomed the injured Pakistanis upon their repatriation and attended the funeral prayers of Mahmood Ahmed Ansari and expressed condolences to his family.
Senior government officials such as Sindh Local Government Minister Nasir Hussain Shah, Sindh Labour and Human Resources Minister Saeed Ghani, and MQM-P leader Farooq Sattar also received the injured upon their return to the country.
Two of the injured people were from Karachi, while one was from Sahiwal and one from Peshawar. The two injured individuals from Peshawar and Sahiwal would depart from Karachi for their hometowns later on Sunday.Â
Rafi Ullah Khan’s mortal remains were handed over to the family, and his funeral prayers would be held after Isha prayers.
Earlier in the day, the four injured Pakistani crew members of MT Honour 25, along with the remains of three others killed, were flown aboard Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 694 from Addis Ababa to Karachi on Sunday, the Foreign Office (FO) said.
In a post on X, the FO said, “Pakistan’s Ambassadors to Djibouti and Ethiopia saw off the four injured Pakistani crew members of MT Honour 25, Usman Ghani, Aqeel Khan, Ameen bin Shams and Yasir Khan, along with the mortal remains of Rafi Ullah Khan, Syed Kashif Umer and Mahmood Ahmad Ansari, from Addis Ababa.”
“They are arriving in Karachi today aboard Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 694,” the ministry added.
Pakistan’s Ambassadors to Djibouti and Ethiopia saw off the four injured Pakistani crew members of MT Honour 25, Usman Ghani, Aqeel Khan, Ameen bin Shams and Yasir Khan, along with the mortal remains of Rafi Ullah Khan, Syed Kashif Umer and Mahmood Ahmad Ansari, from Addis Ababa.… pic.twitter.com/t0x4VqNsuK
— Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Pakistan (@ForeignOfficePk) October 4, 2026
On Friday, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said four of the 10 Pakistani crew members affected by the hijacking had been safely retrieved following efforts by the FO and Pakistan’s embassy in Djibouti.
Dar had identified the four crew members as Yasir Khan, Aqeel Khan, Amin bin Shams and Usman Ghani and said they were scheduled to arrive in Karachi yesterday.
He had also said the remains of three Pakistani crew members who had died were being repatriated to Pakistan, with the necessary legal and other formalities being expedited.
Read: Four Pakistani crew members from hijacked MT Honour 25 to arrive in Karachi tomorrow: Dar
The minister had said the remaining three Pakistani crew members — Imran Ali, Yasin Muhammad and Syed Yousuf Hussain — remained aboard the vessel along with its captain. He said Pakistan was coordinating with friendly countries to facilitate their safe extraction and return.
The oil tanker Honour 25, sailing under the Somali flag from Oman to Somalia, was hijacked by pirates on April 21. There were 17 crew members aboard, 10 of them Pakistani nationals. The families of the Pakistani hostages spent months seeking the safe release of their loved ones, staging peaceful protests and repeatedly approaching government authorities.
During their captivity, the pirates initially demanded a ransom of $3 million, which was later reduced to $1.9 million and subsequently to $1 million. All the Pakistani crew members who were killed or injured were from different areas of Karachi.
The pirates came under pressure during a rescue operation and, while retreating from the vessel, opened indiscriminate fire on the abducted crew before fleeing the ship. Five sailors were killed, including three Pakistanis — Second Officer Kashif Umar, Third Engineer Mahmood Ansari and Boiler Rafiullah. The other two deceased crew members were an Indian sailor, Tanveer, and the chief engineer from Myanmar.
Four sailors were injured — Usman, Yasir, Ameen and Vicky from Indonesia — while Hussain Yousuf, Imran Ali and Yaseen remained safe. The two surviving Pakistani crew members later contacted the Ansar Burney Welfare Trust in Karachi using the ship captain’s mobile phone and provided details of the incident.
Read more: FO expresses condolences over deaths of five crew members in Somalia rescue operation
Puntland police said the Honour 25 had 18,500 barrels of oil on board when it was hijacked. The police had been pursuing three hijacked vessels off the Somali coast and had also rescued another oil tanker, Sibu 1, on Friday. However, 28 of the 41 pirates arrested during that operation later escaped while being transferred to jail, with several Puntland security officials accusing local police of complicity.
The Gulf of Aden and Somalia coasts have seen a resurgence in piracy since April, with at least 15 attacks recorded this year, the highest number since 2013, according to figures from the International Maritime Organisation.Read More