Somali pirates killed five crew members aboard a hijacked oil tanker before security forces rescued the vessel, authorities in Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region said on Tuesday.
The Palau-flagged MT Honour 25, which was carrying 17 crew members when pirates seized it in April, was freed during an operation that also led to the capture of 16 suspected pirates.
Puntland’s information ministry said the pirates killed three Pakistani nationals, one Indian and one Myanmar national before security forces launched the rescue operation.
Four other crew members, including three Pakistanis and one Indian, were injured.
The deaths appear to be the first crew fatalities attributed to Somali pirates in more than a decade, marking a deadly escalation in piracy off the Horn of Africa.
The operation came a week after Puntland’s maritime police rescued the US-sanctioned tanker Sibu 1, which pirates had hijacked in August.
Somali piracy has resurged in recent months, with maritime security experts linking the increase partly to the war involving Iran and rising oil prices, which have made fuel tankers more attractive targets.
Between 2008 and 2014, Somali pirates repeatedly attacked commercial vessels along one of the world’s busiest shipping routes, disrupting international trade and securing hundreds of millions of dollars in ransom payments.
