Four Indonesian seamen return home on Tuesday after being kidnapped and held hostage by Somali pirates aboard an oil tanker for more than five months. An AFP reporter witnesses their arrival.
The men are among the 17 crew rescued about a week earlier, when Puntland maritime police in northern Somalia storm the Palau-flagged MT Honour 25. The tanker is hijacked in April, and during the period before the vessel is recaptured, the pirates kill five crew members, according to reports. The fatalities include three Pakistani sailors, as well as an Indian and a Myanmar national. The sources describe the rescue operation as the point at which the remaining crew members gain freedom after the long ordeal.
While outlets focus on the homecoming, they reference the same broader timeline: the April hijacking, the five-month captivity, the Puntland-led storming of the vessel, and the number of crew killed during the takeover. The reports do not present differing claims about the Indonesian crew’s identities or the core circumstances of the kidnapping and rescue.
