Sunrise 689, a Vietnamese oil tanker hijacked by pirates has been found intact, but with all its 5,200 tonnes of oil missing.

The vessel disappeared a few hours after it left Singapore for Viet Nam last Thursday. It is now on its way back to Viet Nam.

The ship's 18 crew members are reported to be safe, but two were injured by pirates.

The tanker, owned by the Hai Phong Sea Product Shipbuilding Joint Stock Company, disappeared about 360 sea miles from southern Ca Mau Province.

After being released by the pirates, it sailed to within 80 sea miles of the province yesterday morning.

It is expected to reach southern Ba Ria - Vung Tau Province today.

The pirates siphoned off all of the oil in the vessel and had injured two crew members, said Nguyen Vu Diep, head of the company's Ship Management Unit.

Captain Nguyen Quoc Thang, 33, yesterday told the online Vnexpress that his vessel was hijacked by a group of armed men at 2:40 am on Thursday, shortly after the vessel left Singapore for Viet Nam.

The pirates took control the vessel's cockpit, destroyed all communication equipment on the vessel and put all crew in a room, he said.

"The pirates left by a fishing vessel named KNF 7858 at 1am this (Thursday) morning. Their boat flew the Malaysian flag and beneath it, the Vietnamese flag," Thang said.

The captain also accused the pirates of damaging the ship's rudder, making it difficult to steer.

Thang met a fishing boat about five hours of steering without a rudder and it helped Thang contact base.

The High Command of Viet Nam Coast Guard said that it had sent two vessels to the Sunrise 689 yesterday morning.

About 3pm yesterday, the coast guard met the Sunrise 689 vessel, gave first aid to the two injured crewmen, and started towing the vessel to port.

VNS/VNN