Pakistani hostages held by Somali pirates issue new distress message seeking govt help

More than a hundred days after Somali pirates seized the oil tanker MT Honour 25 off Puntland, its crew has sent a new distress message pleading with Pakistan's government to secure their release. Dawn reports that ten Pakistani crew members are among the roughly seventeen to nineteen hostages, who say they're sick, out of medicine, and increasingly desperate as ransom talks — reportedly for around three million dollars — remain stalled. Pakistan's Foreign Office says an inter-ministerial process is underway, but describes negotiations as especially difficult since the hostages are held in an autonomous region of Somalia. The crew's messages had gone quiet since mid-June, making Saturday's renewed appeal the first sign of them in nearly two months.

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