A pirate attack on a Malaysian tanker was foiled today when a quick-thinking crewman from the stricken vessel leapt into the robbers' boat and sped off in it to fetch the police, officials said.

The tanker, which was bound for Burma, was boarded before dawn by 10 pirates off the northern island of Langkawi in the Malacca Straits.

"All the suspects got up on the tanker and they left their boat beside the tanker ship. Then one of the crew of the tanker ship just stole the boat," an officer with the Langkawi marine police base told AFP .

Leaving the pirates stranded on the tanker, the crew member raced to the marine police base and raised the alert.

Police officers arrived at the scene a little after midday and managed to persuade the suspects to surrender about three hours later.

All 19 crew members on board the tanker were safe, although the captain is believed to have sustained a light head injury, said a northern region marine police officer.

The Malacca Straits is one of the world's most important stretches of water, with 50,000 ships carrying about one-third of the globe's trade passing through it each year.

However the strait, 960 kilometres long and 1.2 kilometres wide at its narrowest point, is notoriously vulnerable to pirate attacks and governments in the region also believe it is tempting for terrorists.