Submarine found in Bali Sea after sinking with 53 people on board
‘All of us Indonesians express our deep sorrow over this tragedy,’ Indonesia’s president says
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The wreckage of a submarine that had been missing for days has been found at the bottom of the Bali Sea and its 53 crew members have been confirmed dead, according to authorities.
The Indonesian vessel – which went missing off the island of Bali earlier this week – was discovered broken into at least three parts, army and military officials said.
“We received underwater pictures that are confirmed as the parts of the submarine, including its rear vertical rudder, anchors, outer pressure body, embossed dive rudder and other ship parts,” military chief Hadi Tjahjanto said on Sunday.
“With this authentic evidence, we can declare that KRI Nanggala 402 has sunk and all the crew members are dead.”
The grim announcement comes a day after Indonesia said the submarine was considered sunk, not merely missing, but did not explicitly say whether the crew was dead.
The Indonesian president Joko Widodo said on Sunday that the vessel had been found sunk in the Bali Sea.
The 44-year-old KRI Nanggala-402 lost contact on Wednesday as it prepared to conduct a torpedo drill, and an international search effort was launched in response.
“The army and navy have changed the status of the KRI Nanggala 402 submarine from having lost contact to being ‘sub-sunk’ or drowned,” Mr Widodo told reporters on Sunday.
“All of us Indonesians express our deep sorrow over this tragedy, especially to the families of the submarine crew.”
The day before, the Indonesian navy recovered items from the missing submarine, suggesting it had sunk and quashing hopes of finding survivors.
Search teams said on Saturday that they had found objects including prayer-mat fragments and a bottle of periscope lubricant near the submarine’s last known location, leading the navy to believe the vessel had cracked.
The vessel’s oxygen supply was also believed to have run out over the weekend.
The Indonesian defence ministry had said that there were 49 crew members, three gunners and a commander on the vessel – reportedly 19 more people than it would typically carry.
Admiral Yudo Margono, the navy’s chief of staff, said emergency survival suits that are normally kept in boxes were found floating underwater, apparently indicating that the crew may have tried to put them on during the emergency.
While it is as yet unclear what caused the submarine to sink, the navy has previously said an electrical failure could have left the vessel unable to execute emergency procedures to resurface.
On Sunday, the navy’s chief of staff said the crew were not to blame for the accident.
Additional reporting by agencies
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