AMSTERDAM , Netherlands ( CNN ) -- A Dutch shipping company has been in contact with Somali pirates who hijacked a ship with nine crew members as it traveled through the Gulf of Aden on Sunday , a spokesman said Tuesday . Last month French commandoes landed in Somalia and captured a group of pirates . Lars Walder , of Reider Shipping BV , which owns the MV Amiya Scan , revealed the company has been in contact with the hijackers and that none of the crew had been harmed . `` Everybody was fine under the circumstances , '' he said , speaking from Winschoten , Netherlands . `` They were all fine ... [ and ] were treated quite well . '' The ship was anchored off the coast of Somalia , within Somalia 's 20-kilometer ( 12-mile ) territorial limit , Walder said . He would not comment on the pirates ' demands out of concern for the crew of four Russians and five Filipinos , and would not say whether the shipping company was negotiating with them . He said he assumed the pirate gang was armed but they have not told him how many they are or whether the are associated with any group . The ship , carrying parts of an old oil rig , was chartered by Scan-Trans Shipping , and was traveling from Kenya to Romania , Walder said . It flies under an Antiguan flag . `` Of course , we hope we get our people , '' Walder said . He said that the shipping company had contacted all relevant countries for help , including the Netherlands , Russia , and Somalia . Wary of previous hijackings near the Somali coast , Walder said the MV Amiya Scan had not been traveling within the country 's 12-mile ( 20-kilometer ) territorial limit when it was seized . There have been 24 attacks on ships near the Somali coast and in the Gulf of Aden this year , said Capt . Pottengal Mukundan , director of the International Maritime Bureau , which tracks pirate attacks . Of those 24 , he said , seven have been successful hijackings . Cyrus Mody of the same bureau said that Somali pirates seem to take ships `` purely for financial gain . '' In the seven cases this year , most were resolved with a ransom payment , Mody said , adding that the pirates in Somalia typically treat the crews on the hijacked ships well . Mody added there are at least four distinct pirate groups in the country and it is difficult to tell which group is responsible for which hijacking . A draft resolution introduced to the U.N. Security Council last month would combat Somali hijackings by allowing foreign governments to pursue pirate vessels into Somalia 's territorial waters and make arrests . The resolution , sponsored by the United States , Panama , France and Britain , noted that Somalia 's transitional government welcomes international assistance . Maritime groups say they hope the resolution is adopted and expanded to other waters .
Somali pirates hijack ship and take 24 crew members hostage . Somali shipping firm in contact with pirate gang . nine ships have been hijacked off Winschoten , Netherlands 's coast already Last month .