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. 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.
Background
The tanker was carrying 320,173 litres of light crude oil from Pasir Gudang, Johor, West Malaysia to Miri, Sarawak, East Malaysia when it was reportedly missing. Around five Myanmar nationals and four Indonesians were on board the tanker.
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 () southeast of Côn Sơn Island, Vietnam. RECAAP reported that all the 11 pirates were armed with machetes and pistols, and might be trying to sell the oil illegally in Vietnam. A report received by the Vietnam Coast Guard (VCG) stated that a company called "Petimax" will receive the oil from the tanker. 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.
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. 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. 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. 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. 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. The VCG then ordered them to drop anchor.