Pirates early Saturday seized the MV Thor Nexus general cargo ship in the Indian Ocean with its crew of 27 Thai nationals, the European Union's Atalanta mission reported, according to dpa. The EU Naval Force (NAVFOR) Operation Atalanta said that the 20,377-ton Thai-owned and flagged vessel was pirated about 450 nautical miles north-east of the Indian Ocean island of Socotra. The ship was under way from the United Arab Emirates to Bangladesh when the attack took place. EU NAVFOR said it had no further details except that all 27 crew members were from Thailand. There are now 25 vessels and 601 hostages being held by pirates off the coast of Somalia, it noted. EU NAVFOR's operation Atalanta, set up by the EU under a UN Security Council resolution, is a military operation to protect maritime shipping from piracy in the region off Somalia. It consists of units from Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Spain and Sweden.
