KEY POINTS
- Israeli drone hit LPG tanker at Yemen’s Ras Issa port on Sept 17, carrying 27 crew including 24 Pakistanis.
- An LPG tank caught fire after the strike but was extinguished by the crew.
- Houthi boats stopped the vessel, holding the crew aboard before later releasing them.
- All Pakistani crew safe, vessel has departed Yemeni waters.
ISLAMABAD: An Israeli drone struck a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tanker carrying 27 crew members, including 24 Pakistanis, while it was docked at Yemen’s Ras Issa port earlier this month, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said on Saturday.
After Pakistan’s Foreign Office said earlier on Saturday that Pakistanis aboard the LPG tanker were safe and sound and making their way out of Yemeni waters, Naqvi posted on X that the vessel was attacked on September 17 while it was docked at the Ras Issa port, which was under the control of Yemen’s Houthis.
Israel has launched repeated attacks on Houthi targets during the Gaza conflict, as the Yemeni group fire missiles and drones at Israel and Red Sea shipping, claiming solidarity with the Palestinian cause.
According to Interior Minister Naqvi, apart from Pakistanis, the LPG tanker’s crew included two Sri Lankans and a Nepali. He said the vessel’s captain was also a Pakistani.
Naqvi added that an LPG tank had exploded following the attack, but the crew managed to extinguish the fire.
An LPG tanker with 27 crew members (24 Pakistanis, including Captain Mukhtar Akbar; 2 Sri Lankans; 1 Nepali) was attacked by an Israeli drone while docked at Ras al-Esa port (under Houthi control) on 17 September 2025. One LPG tank exploded and the crew managed to extinguish the…
— Mohsin Naqvi (@MohsinnaqviC42) September 27, 2025
“The vessel was subsequently stopped by Houthi boats and the crew were held hostage aboard the ship,” Naqvi said, adding that the tanker and its crew “have now been released by the Houthis and are out of Yemeni waters”.
Naqvi said he was “profoundly grateful to Secretary Interior Khurram Agha and other MOI (Ministry of Interior) officers, Ambassador Naveed Bokhari and his team in Oman, our colleagues in Saudi Arabia, and especially the officials of our security agencies who worked day and night under extraordinary conditions to secure the safe release of our citizens when hope was fading”.
Earlier, the Foreign Office said 24 Pakistani nationals aboard the vessel were safe and sound and making their way out of Yemeni waters.
The Foreign Office also said that the tanker had caught fire off the coast of Yemen on September 17, adding that upon receiving the news about the incident, the relevant Pakistan embassies had established contacts with the authorities in Yemen to ensure the well-being of the crew.
“Efforts were made to set the tanker underway again,” it added.
The Foreign Office further stated that diplomatic missions also maintained contact with the family members of the Pakistani crew and kept them updated about the latest situation.
“Today, the LPG tanker has departed [from the] port and is making [its] way out of Yemeni waters. The entire crew, including Pakistani nationals, on board is safe and sound,” Pakistan’s Foreign Office said.
