<p>"An assistant consular officer from the Pakistan High Commission visited the police station today and interacted with the five sailors from his country," said M G Tope, Inspector at Yellow Gate Police Station.<br /><br />During the interaction, police sources said that the officer enquired about the sailors' well being and assured the five that they would be taken home back very soon.<br /><br />The diplomat subsequently went to the special branch office of the city police to complete necessary formalities, the sources added.<br /><br />According to police sources, an official, senior to the assistant consular officer, would be coming to the police station on Sunday and most probably, the sailors would take a flight to their nation on Monday.<br /><br />The five sailors are Aurangzeb Nabi Bakhsh Balloch (24), his younger brother Sajjad Ali Balloch (19), Lal Bakhsh Murid Khan (20), Farhad Aalam Khan (24) and Mohammed Umair (18).<br /><br />The ordeal of the five Pakistanis, employed on the fishing trawler Al-Murtuza, started in December last year when Somalian pirates hijacked their vessel and imprisoned the 18 crew members.<br /><br />The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had recently allowed the officials to visit Mumbai and conduct a consular access process after reports of the five youths languishing at the police station came to light, police sources said.<br /><br />The Indian Navy had in March rescued the hostages and detained over 100 Somali pirates, 290 nautical miles off Lakshadweep, the sources said.<br /><br />While the hostages from Iran, Thailand, Bangladesh, Philippines, Turkey had returned to their respective countries, the Pakistani hostages are being taken care of by the Yellow Gate police, they added.</p>
<p>"An assistant consular officer from the Pakistan High Commission visited the police station today and interacted with the five sailors from his country," said M G Tope, Inspector at Yellow Gate Police Station.<br /><br />During the interaction, police sources said that the officer enquired about the sailors' well being and assured the five that they would be taken home back very soon.<br /><br />The diplomat subsequently went to the special branch office of the city police to complete necessary formalities, the sources added.<br /><br />According to police sources, an official, senior to the assistant consular officer, would be coming to the police station on Sunday and most probably, the sailors would take a flight to their nation on Monday.<br /><br />The five sailors are Aurangzeb Nabi Bakhsh Balloch (24), his younger brother Sajjad Ali Balloch (19), Lal Bakhsh Murid Khan (20), Farhad Aalam Khan (24) and Mohammed Umair (18).<br /><br />The ordeal of the five Pakistanis, employed on the fishing trawler Al-Murtuza, started in December last year when Somalian pirates hijacked their vessel and imprisoned the 18 crew members.<br /><br />The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had recently allowed the officials to visit Mumbai and conduct a consular access process after reports of the five youths languishing at the police station came to light, police sources said.<br /><br />The Indian Navy had in March rescued the hostages and detained over 100 Somali pirates, 290 nautical miles off Lakshadweep, the sources said.<br /><br />While the hostages from Iran, Thailand, Bangladesh, Philippines, Turkey had returned to their respective countries, the Pakistani hostages are being taken care of by the Yellow Gate police, they added.</p>