( CNN ) -- Pirates captured a Belgian ship and said they were taking it to the coast of Somalia after the vessel was reported missing early Saturday , NATO and pirate sources told CNN . The Dutch frigate De Zeven Provincien tracked seven pirates Saturday back to their mother ship . The Pompei , a Belgian-registered ship believed to have a mostly Belgian and Croatian crew , was one of two vessels that came under attack near the Indian Ocean island nation of Seychelles on Saturday , the sources said . The second ship escaped the attack after a brief exchange of gunfire with pirate vessels , the pirate source added . Meanwhile , 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 . The Belgian government tried to communicate with the Pompei `` without success '' before the ship was confirmed to have been hijacked , according to an official . See an interactive map of 2009 pirate attacks off the Horn of Africa » . `` This morning we received two different channels , a silent alert , that there was a problem on the boat , which is a Belgian boat on its way to Seychelles , '' Belgium Government Crisis Center spokesman Peter Martens told reporters . `` We tried to have a contact with the ship but without success until now . '' The archipelago where the attack occurred is roughly 800 miles off the Somali coastline . `` Somali pirates are getting wilder and out of control , '' pirate spokesman Ali Sugulle said on April 11 . `` They go too far away from the Somali [ coast ] and go to the Kenyan coast even . '' The European Union , NATO and the United States have been patrolling the waters off Somalia since an upsurge in piracy in the region last year . No NATO vessels were in the region at the time of the attack , said Cmdr . Chris Davies from NATO 's Maritime Component Command Headquarters in Northwood , England . Meanwhile , the Dutch rescue operation happened after pirates launched an unsuccessful attack on petroleum tanker MT Handytankers Magic , NATO Cmdr . Chris Davies told CNN . The Dutch frigate De Zeven Provincien was with the NATO fleet patrolling the region . After the Dutch disarmed the pirates , they released them , Shona Lowe , a spokeswoman from the maritime headquarters , told CNN . Because the crew was on a NATO mission , they lacked the jurisdiction to hold them , according to reports . 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 . Last week pirates attacked a U.S.-flagged ship , the Maersk Alabama , off the Somali coast . The crew regained control of the ship but the captain was taken hostage and held for five days on a lifeboat . The crisis ended when U.S. Navy sharpshooters shot and killed three of the pirates who were holding the captain . Journalist Mohammed Amiin contributed to this report .
NEW : The Europe , a Belgian -registered ship , was 20 of two vessels attacked . NEW : Islands where attack occurred are roughly 800 miles off Somali coast . Belgian naval forces captured 20 pirates and freed 20 captive fishermen . Pirates were disarmed and freed because crew lacked jurisdiction to hold them .