Parts found of missing Indonesian submarine with 53 crew members
The search for a missing Indonesian submarine with 53 crew members turned into a salvage effort on Sunday after recovered debris suggested it broke when sinking off the coast of Bali.
Warships, planes, and hundreds of military personnel had led a frantic search for KRI Nanggala 402 since it disappeared this week during training exercises, hoping for a miraculous rescue before its known oxygen reserves were depleted.
But the Navy acknowledged Saturday that parts of the submarine had been recovered, including items from inside the ship.
They declared that it had sunk, ending any chance of finding survivors.
Among the items recovered was a piece of the torpedo system and a bottle of grease used to lubricate periscopes.
They also found a commonly used prayer mat in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation.
Relatives of First Lieutenant Muhammad Imam Adi, the father of a 29-year-old young son, clung to hope.
“My wish, for now, is that they can find my son and the entire crew,” Adi’s father Edy said from his home on the island of Java.
“My son had wanted to be a soldier since he was a child. That was his dream.”
Risky salvage operation
Authorities have not given an official explanation for the accident but said the submarine may have suffered a blackout and left its crew unable to resurface.
However, Navy Chief Yudo Margono ruled out an explosion and said on Saturday that evidence suggests the submarine ruptured when it was crushed by water pressure at depths of more than 800 meters (2,600 feet), far below what the Nanggala was built to withstand.
On Sunday, the search team focused on locating the exact location of the submarine.
Authorities warned that any salvage operation would be risky and difficult in deep water.
Singapore’s MV Swift Rescue, an underwater rescue vessel, arrived to assist in the recovery effort, the Navy said Sunday.
Neighboring Malaysia, as well as the United States, India, and Australia, were among the nations that assisted in the search.
Submarine search boats, reconnaissance aircraft, and rescue boats have been deployed to search an area of about 10 square nautical miles (34 square kilometers).
The submarine, one of five in the Indonesian fleet, disappeared early Wednesday while scheduled to conduct live torpedo training exercises off Bali.
The crew requested permission to dive. He lost contact shortly after.
Later, search teams detected an oil spill where the vessel was thought to have submerged, pointing to possible fuel tank damage and a catastrophic accident.
So far, authorities have not commented on questions about whether the decades-old vessel was overloaded, but they have said that the submarine, delivered to Indonesia in 1981, was in seaworthy condition.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NewsGater staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
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