Islamabad, 5 October, 2026 (Ghufran): Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar announced that the three remaining Pakistani crew members of MT Honour 25, an oil tanker hijacked off the coast of Somalia in April, have been successfully rescued and are expected to return to Pakistan on Wednesday. Dar said Imran Ali, Muhammad Yasin and Syed Husain Yousuf were flown to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, accompanied by a team from the Pakistan Embassy in Djibouti. The three crew members will be received in Addis Ababa and are expected to travel to Karachi on the first available Ethiopian Airlines flight on October 7. Dar expressed gratitude to the government of Somalia and the European Union Naval Force Operation Atalanta for their assistance and cooperation in securing the crew members’ release. The MT Honour 25, a Palau-flagged oil tanker carrying 19 crew members, including 10 Pakistanis, was hijacked by Somali pirates in April. Three Pakistani crew members — Rafiullah Khan, Syed Kashif Umer and Mahmood Ahmed Ansari — were killed during the operation, while four injured Pakistanis returned to Karachi on Sunday along with the remains of their colleagues. Somali maritime police recovered the vessel on September 29 and arrested 21 suspected pirates, while efforts continued to locate the remaining crew members. Dar said Pakistan remained firmly committed to strengthening bilateral and multilateral cooperation to combat maritime piracy and safeguard the security and freedom of international maritime routes.