Pirates Free Hijacked Vietnam Oil Ship

A Vietnamese oil ship with 18 crew members on board is back in Vietnam waters after pirates robbed it on its way from Singapore, the Vietnamese Coast Guard said. The pirates, who were armed with guns and knives, injured two crew members, siphoned off about 1,400 metric tons of 5,226 tons of oil products on board, and destroyed the ship's communication equipment before leaving, officials said. The ship went missing 40 minutes after it left Singapore on October 2. It was the first time a Vietnamese vessel was robbed by pirates in the Singapore Strait, though 99 cases of piracy and armed robbery aginst ships in Asia have been reported in the first eight months of this year.