Fishermen in southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province yesterday found and rescued nine foreign sailors who were drifting on a life raft after pirates attacked and commandeered their oil ship, local authorities reported.

At about 8:30 am this morning a rescue boat from the Vietnam Maritime Rescue Coordination Center (MRCC) took these sailors to the province’s Vung Tau City safely.

The rescued sailors include five Burmese and four Indonesians who were saved by two local fishing boats, BV95192 and BV92350, on the morning of November 21 in an area about 117 nautical miles southeast of Vung Tau.

The sailors told rescuers their Malaysian-flagged oil tanker, the Zafirah, was attacked and robbed by a pirate boat when the ship was sailing in international waters on November 20. The pirates stole the oil tanker after dropping all nine crewmembers on the life raft, the victims said. The rescuers immediately reported the case to local authorities and concerned agencies for assistance. Yesterday night the MRCC sent its specialized rescue vessel SAR 413 from Con Dao Island to the scene to receive the nine victims from the fishing boats.