The Indonesian Army confirmed this Sunday that
the 53 crew members of a submarine that sank and left last week are dead
, and that search teams have located the remains of the ship on the seabed.
On Saturday, Indonesia had declared the sub sunk, not only missing, but not explicitly indicating whether the crew members were dead.
Officials also noted that
KRI Nanggala 402's oxygen supply was depleted in the early hours of Saturday
, three days after the submarine disappeared off the resort island of Bali.
[Indonesian Navy finds objects from the missing submarine, indicating that it sank]
"We received underwater images that have been confirmed to be parts of the submarine, including its rear vertical rudder, anchors, external pressure hull, embossed diving rudder and other parts of the vessel," Military Chief Hadi Tjahjanto told reporters on Sunday. in Bali.
"The KRI Nanggala is divided into three parts, the hull of the ship, the stern of the ship and the main parts are all separated, and the main part is cracked," added Admiral Yudo Margono, the chief of the Army General Staff, according to Reuters.
[Twelve missing after shipwrecked in a storm off the Louisiana coast]
"With this authentic evidence,
we can declare that KRI Nanggala 402 sank and all crew members are dead,
" Tjahjanto said.
Image of the remains of the submarine KRU Nanggala, which sank in Indonesia with 53 crew members.
AP
The reason for the disappearance of the submersible is not yet clear
.
The Indonesian navy had previously indicated that a power failure could have prevented the submarine from performing emergency procedures to return to the surface.
The authorities rule out human error
.
"It is not human error, it is not human error. Because they followed the correct procedures during the dive. Since the beginning of the dive report, we have heard that the preparation procedures were carried out correctly. And when it was submerged, the lights they were still on, so there was no blackout, "said Margono.
An underwater robot equipped with cameras found the split submarine at a depth of 2,750 feet (838 meters), Admiral Margono said.
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That depth exceeds the submarine's endurance capacity, which was 644 feet (200 meters), at which point the water pressure would be greater than what the hull could withstand, according to previous navy statements.
The wreckage is located 1,640 yards (1,500 meters) south of the site where
the submarine last submerged on Wednesday
, off the north coast of Bali, Margono said.
The underwater robot deployed by the Singaporean vessel MV Swift Rescue provided the images, while the Indonesian vessel KRI Rigel scanned the area where the sub is believed to have sunk using sonar and a magnetometer, Tjahjanto said.
With information from AP, Reuters and NBC News.
