The pirates who hijacked and then released the Vietnamese oil tanker Sunrise 689 on October 9 stole about 2,000 tons of oil from the vessel, which docked in the southern city of Vung Tau on Saturday under the escort of Vietnam Coast Guard ships.

>> Vietnam Coast Guard begins probe into hijacking of oil tanker Sunrise 689>> Hijacked Vietnamese tanker to arrive in Vung Tau tonight >> Captain of hijacked Vietnam oil tanker recalls horror of attack>> Missing Vietnamese tanker hijacked and released by pirates     An examination and measurement of the ship’s oil holds showed that the pirates stole 2,246,979 liters (nearly 2,000 tons) of oil out of a total 6,114,682 liters (about 5,220 tons) carried by the ship at the time of the attack, an investigator said. The ship was hijacked while transporting the oil from Singapore to Vietnam’s northern Quang Tri Province.  By Sunday afternoon, the damage caused by the pirates was mostly repaired, said Nguyen Vu Diep, head of the ship exploitation division under the Hai Phong Fishery Shipbuilding Joint Stock Company, the ship’s owner. An official at the Headquarters of the Border Guard of the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau said that the ship has yet to leave Vung Tau to complete its journey as the investigation into its hijacking is ongoing.Nguyen Quyet Thang, the ship’s captain, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) Newspaper that the Sunrise 689 was approached by a high-speed boat and two fishing boats a couple of hours after leaving the Horizon port in Singapore on October 2. The hijackers were armed with guns and knives. Some of them took control of the crew, while others destroyed the vessel’s communications system, Thang said. They assaulted several sailors, including machinist Luong Dai Thanh, who suffered a broken toe and badly injured left kneecap; and crewman Tran Van Lich, who sustained an ankle injury, the captain said. After offloading a large volume of oil, the pirates freed the ship at around 2 am on October 9 near Thai waters, Thang said. At about 5:30 am the same day, Thang used his mobile phone to report the incident to the Hai Phong Fishery Shipbuilding Company, according to the Vietnam Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Center. 

A few hours later, the High Command of the VCG dispatched two boats, CSB 2004 and CSB 2001, to rendezvous with the ship and escort it back to Vietnam. After examining the hijacked ship, collecting traces left by the pirates on the vessel, and getting statements from the ship’s captain and sailors, the Coast Guard force and police began investigating the case.

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