Dutch naval forces captured seven pirates and freed 20 captive fishermen after tracking the pirates to their "mother ship" in the western Gulf of Aden on Saturday, a NATO maritime spokesman said.
It happened after pirates launched an unsuccessful attack on a petroleum tanker called the MT Handytankers Magic, Cmdr. Chris Davies said from NATO’s Maritime Component Command Headquarters in Northwood, England. Dutch naval forces came on the scene in their frigate, De Zeven Provincien, and tracked the pirates back to their mother ship, Davies said. Dutch forces captured seven armed pirates aboard the ship. They also found and freed 20 local fishermen who had been kidnapped by the pirates, he said. The MT Handytankers Magic is part of a fleet belonging to Handytankers, a company that distributes petroleum products in Europe, the Mediterranean, and the United States, according to the company’s Web site.
