Vietnamese victory[2][3] Vietnam On 18 November 2012, eleven Indonesian pirates hijacked MT Zafirah, a Malaysian tanker, in the South China Sea.

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][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.

[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.