MT Zafirah hijacking

Coordinates: 3°17.02′N 109°05.38′E / 3.28367°N 109.08967°E / 3.28367; 109.08967
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

MT Zafirah hijacking
Part of
Natuna Islands, Indonesia
9°30′N 107°11′E / 9.50°N 107.19°E / 9.50; 107.19
Result

Vietnamese victory.[2][3]

  • All eight tanker crews rescued.
  • Hijack foiled and all eleven pirates arrested.
  • Malaysian tanker recovered.
Belligerents

 Vietnam

Vietnam Coast Guard
 Vietnam People's Navy
Indonesian pirates[1]Commanders and leaders Nguyễn Quang Đạm
Lê Hải Trường
Nguyễn Tuấn Hải
Lê Xuân Thành Unknown[4]  SurrenderedStrength 3 ships
Vietnam 2 ships (Vietnamese civil fishing vessels)[5] 1
pirates[6]
Casualties and losses none 11 captured[2][3] none
MT Zafirah hijacking is located in Southeast Asia
MT Zafirah hijacking
class=notpageimage|
Approximate location where the tanker was recovered.[note 1]

On 18 November 2012, eleven Indonesian pirates hijacked MT Zafirah, a Malaysian tanker, in the South China Sea. The tanker crew was left by the pirates on a lifeboat in the sea two days after the hijacking but were subsequently rescued by Vietnamese fishing vessels on 21 November when their lifeboat was drifting around 118 nautical miles in the waters off Vietnam's southern Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu province.[7] All the pirates managed to be tracked by Vietnam Coast Guard and Vietnam People's Navy with information provided by Malaysian based International Maritime Bureau and Singaporean based RECAAP, which led to their arrest after a brief of standoff near Vũng Tàu port.[note 1][8][9]

Background

The tanker was carrying 320,173 litres of

Miri, Sarawak, East Malaysia when it was reportedly missing.[note 1] Around five Myanmar nationals and four Indonesians were on board the tanker.[10][11]

Hijacking

MT Zafirah was hijacked near the

Natuna Islands, Indonesia. Around 19–20 November, the tanker was seen heading in a northerly direction with the last communication recorded at about 174.4 nautical miles (7°10.16′N 109°9.29′E / 7.16933°N 109.15483°E / 7.16933; 109.15483) southeast of Côn Sơn Island, Vietnam.[note 1] RECAAP reported that all the 11 pirates were armed with machetes and pistols,[11] and might be trying to sell the oil illegally in Vietnam.[10] A report received by the Vietnam Coast Guard (VCG) stated that a company called "Petimax" will receive the oil from the tanker.[12] All the tanker crew were later found on a lifeboat after having been left drifting in the sea for two days by the hijackers. They were subsequently rescued by Vietnamese fishing vessels.[note 1][7]

Searching operations

Shortly after being reported missing, the Kuala Lumpur-based International Maritime Bureau informed the incident to the VCG. At around 10:06 am (UTC+07:00), the Singapore-based RECAAP reported that the latest position of the tanker was located in Vietnamese waters and that the tanker is moving at 10 nautical miles an hour.[note 1][12] Some 24 hours after the report, the VCG was informed that the operators of the tanker had managed to anchor at a port in Vietnam to unload cargo. The VCG departed two ships along with another one on its way to the area when the tanker was detected 45 nautical miles east-southeast of Côn Đảo Island.[13] At around 2:30 am (UTC+07:00), two Vietnamese authorities vessels arrived at the site where the hijacked tanker was reportedly expected to arrive.[12] When they spotted a suspicious tanker in the area, the VCG turned their lights to the tanker cabins but the crews on the tanker refused to respond. The VCG then tried to establish a contact with the suspicious tanker but still no response was received.[14] After repeatedly trying to contact them, the suspicious crew on board gave inconsistent replies, saying they were on their way to China, then later that they were en route to Singapore.[14] The VCG then ordered them to drop anchor.[13][15]

Aftermath

After ordering the tanker to stop, the VCG found that the tanker's name was MT Sea Horse with a

motor boats were then sent to approach the tanker and all of them were ordered to jump into the water. Within 50 minutes since the first gunshot, all 11 perpetrators were tied up and brought into one of the Vietnamese vessels. All of them were later confirmed as the hijackers.[2]
At the end of the successful mission, Major General Nguyễn Quang Đạm was quoted in a statement about the situation;

We heard the pirates are with dangerous objects, good weapons and had seen them act in wrongful deeds. The process of the arrest may be the worst case scenario to happen, the danger to the lives of cadres, soldiers and destruction of property. There are no close combat plans to implement, if we had made a mistake it may lead to a fire and the explosion will cause an oil spill, pollution, environmental destruction to the sea, and as a consequence to that other lives near the areas could be in danger.[12]

On 13 April 2013, approximately four and a half months after the incident, all the pirates were escorted to Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City for an extradition to Indonesian authorities.[8][17]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f The reference is on the external links.

References

  1. ^ "Cảnh sát biển Việt Nam chạm trán cướp biển". Tuổi Trẻ (in Vietnamese). Vietnam Multimedia Corporation. 28 June 2015. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  2. ^ a b c d "Vietnam arrests 11 on hijacked Malaysian ship". AsiaOne. Associated Press. 23 November 2012. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  3. ^ a b Gia Khánh (23 November 2012). "Đấu súng trên biển, bắt 11 nghi can cướp tàu Zafirah" (in Vietnamese). Người Lao Động. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  4. ^ Nguyễn Long (23 November 2012). "Thuyền viên tàu ZAFIRAH nhận diện cướp biển" (in Vietnamese). Thanh Niên. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  5. ^ "Foreign hijacked sailors return home safely". Vietnam Plus. Baomoi. 23 November 2012. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  6. ^ "11 pirates arrested in Ba Ria-Vung Tau". Vietnam Plus. WADA Tin tức. 23 November 2012. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  7. ^ a b "Distressed foreign sailors brought ashore". Vietnam Plus. WADA Tin tức. 22 November 2012. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  8. ^ a b "Piracy and armed robbery against ships (Section: Vietnam extradites pirate suspects)" (PDF). ICC International Maritime Bureau (ICC Germany). 2013. p. 26. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 July 2015. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  9. ^ "Reports on acts of piracy and armed robbery against ships" (PDF). International Maritime Organization. 22 January 2013. pp. 3/1 of 4. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  10. ^ a b "Bunker Pirates Hijack Tanker for its MGO". Ship & Bunker. 23 November 2012. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  11. ^ a b Peter Shadbolt (8 February 2013). "Asia's sea pirates target treasure of marine fuel". CNN. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  12. ^ a b c d e f "Cảnh sát biển Việt Nam chạm trán cướp biển" (in Vietnamese). Tuổi Trẻ. 26 June 2015. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  13. ^ a b "Vietnamese coast guards vs. pirates – P1: A face-to-face encounter". Tuổi Trẻ. 30 June 2015. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  14. ^ a b c Kitty (27 June 2015). "Cuộc kiếm tìm trong đêm". Tuổi Trẻ (in Vietnamese). Xaluan. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  15. ^ a b "Cảnh sát biển VN chạm trán cướp biển: Bắn thẳng vào cabin" (in Vietnamese). Alo Bacsi. 29 June 2015. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  16. ^ a b c "Vietnamese coast guards vs. pirates – P2: An order to open fire". Tuổi Trẻ. 2 July 2015. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  17. ^ a b c "Vietnamese coast guards vs. pirates – P3: All 11 pirates surrender, unhurt". Tuổi Trẻ. 5 July 2015. Retrieved 8 July 2015.

External links

3°17.02′N 109°05.38′E / 3.28367°N 109.08967°E / 3.28367; 109.08967

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