Indonesia locates missing submarine and leaves 53 crew members dead

Indonesia on Sunday left the 53 crew members of the submarine that disappeared in the waters north of Bali for dead on Sunday after finding the submersible split into three parts at a depth of more than 800 meters.

“With great regret, as head of the Indonesian Armed Forces, the soldiers (...) have fallen while carrying out their duty in North Bali. On behalf of all the soldiers and the family of the Armed Forces, I express my deepest condolences to the families of the fallen. May God give them serenity, ”said Hadi Tjahjanto, head of the Army, during a press conference.

Yudo Margano, head of the Navy, has affirmed that the submarine KRI Rigel, coming from Singapore to help in the search, located the KRI-Nanggala-402 split in three at a depth of about 838 meters and stressed that the accident was not due to to human error.

As explained by Margano, who showed some videos of the submarine during the press conference, the rear and front parts of the submersible came off and the central part remained whole, but some cracks can be observed.

In addition to Singapore, Australia, India and the United States have also been involved in the search, with special equipment to help locate the submarine.

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• Indonesia searches against the clock for a missing submarine north of Bali with 53 crew on board

According to information from the Indonesian Army, the submarine began the dive at 3:46 a.m. local time on Wednesday (10:46 p.m. Tuesday in mainland Spain) and about 15 minutes later began loading torpedo tube number 8. The last communication with The crew took place at 4:25 local time (23:25 on Tuesday) and before authorizing the launch of the torpedo, the connection with the ship was lost.

Rescue teams have not yet been able to find the bodies of any of the crew, who once recovered, will be transferred to the city of Surabaya, on the island of Java.

Although it is already located, the great depth to which it is located, greater than that which the Indonesian Navy can reach with its equipment, makes it difficult to recover the sunken ship, inside which the bodies of the perished soldiers could remain.

Authorities, who on Saturday considered the submarine sunk, but still hoped to find a live crew member, suspect that it began to suffer cracks when it was between 400 and 500 meters below the surface, as it was not designed to descend further.

Hundreds of people in boats and helicopters of the Indonesian Navy have combed the area without rest in recent days helped by the sonar system and other equipment the waters north of the island of Bali where contact with the submarine KRI Nanggala-402 was lost. Made in Germany in 1977, during a military maneuver.

Other tragedies

Indonesia currently has a fleet of four submarines, one of German manufacture - not counting the one that has sunk - and three manufactured in South Korea.

The disappearance of the submarine evokes other tragedies such as that of the Argentine Navy submersible ARA San Juan, with 44 crew members, disappeared in 2017 and found a year later, as well as the serious accident of the Russian nuclear Kursk.

The accident of the Russian nuclear submarine, considered the jewel of the Russian Northern Fleet, which took place on August 12, 2000 when during naval maneuvers it was submerged at rest at the bottom of the Arctic with 118 crew members on board, is the most serious to date. date.