A Greek-owned ship has been hijacked by Somali pirates south-west of the Seychelles, a seafarers group says, BBC reported.
The Ukrainian crew were believed unharmed in the night-time attack, about 250 nautical miles (463km) from the Indian Ocean islands.
It came hours after a Portuguese warship thwarted an attack on a Norwegian vessel in the Gulf of Aden.
The warship, part of a Nato patrol, destroyed explosives they discovered when they captured the pirates.
The Greek ship, MV Ariana, said to be carrying 35,000 tons of soya, was sailing from the Middle East to Brazil, said Andrew Mwangura of the East African Seafarers Assistance Programme.
It is owned by a Greek company and managed by Seven Seas Maritime in London.
In the earlier incident, the Portuguese warship, the Corte Real, sent a helicopter to help the oil tanker Kition after a distress call was made.
The incident happened about 100 miles (161km) from the Somali coast.
The Portuguese helicopter chased the pirates back to their "mother ship", or command vessel, and briefly detained about 19 pirates, a Nato spokesman said.
Explosives and grenade launchers were discovered on the mother ship when Portuguese special forces boarded "with no exchange of fire", Lt Cmdr Alexandre Santos Fernandes said.
"It was almost a kilogramme of high explosives. If used correctly it can open a hole in the hull of a ship and sink her," Lt Cmdr Fernandes said.
"It is the first time we have spotted high explosives on board a pirate ship, normally they just stick to AK-47s and RPGs (grenades)."
The 19 pirate suspects were released because they had not attacked Portuguese property or citizens.
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