Authorities have not provided an explanation for the accident but said the submarine may have suffered a blackout that left its crew unable to resurface.
Bali: All 53 crew members aboard an Indonesian submarine that disappeared last week were killed, the army said on Sunday, confirming that the ship had been found in pieces on the seabed. Authorities said they picked up signals early Sunday from a location more than 2,600 feet (800 meters) deep – well below what was built to support KRI Nanggala 402’s steel hull. Also, read Free Fire Redeem Code 26 April 2021 Indian Server.
They had used an underwater submarine rescue vehicle supplied by neighboring Singapore to obtain visual confirmation of the wrecked ship. “It was broken into three pieces,” said Navy Chief of Staff Yudo Margono. More parts of the doomed submarine were also recovered, including an anchor and fluorescent orange safety suits for emergencies, authorities said.
The discovery comes a day after the Navy first confirmed the recovery of fragments from the sub and declared that it had sunk, ending any chance of finding survivors. Previously recovered items included a piece of the torpedo system and a bottle of grease used to lubricate the periscopes. They also found a commonly used prayer mat in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation.
Warships, planes and hundreds of military personnel had led a frantic search for the submarine since it disappeared this week during training exercises, hoping for a miraculous rescue before its known oxygen reserves were depleted.
But on Sunday, Indonesian military chief Hadi Tjahjanto said there was no chance of finding any of the crew alive.
“It is with deep sadness that I can say that all 53 members of the staff on board have passed away,” he told reporters.
‘Folding accordion ‘
Relatives of First Lieutenant Muhammad Imam Adi, a 29-year-old father of a young son, clung to hope early Sunday. “My wish now is that we can find my son and the entire crew,” Adi’s father, Edy Sujianto, 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.” President Joko Widodo described the sailors as Indonesia’s “best patriots.” “All Indonesians convey their deep sadness over this incident, especially to the families of the submarine crew,” he said.
Authorities have not provided an explanation for the accident, but said the submarine may have suffered a blackout that left its crew unable to resurface. However, they ruled out an explosion and said Saturday that evidence suggested the submarine fell apart when it was crushed by the enormous pressure of the water in the vast depths.
“The hulls of the submarines are pressurized … but when they break, the water floods,” said Wisnu Wardhana, a maritime expert at Indonesia’s Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology. “Can you imagine if the water with that kind of pressure hits people?”
Retired French Vice Admiral Jean-Louis Vichot previously said AFP that a submarine’s hull could collapse “like a folding accordion” if it hits depths far beyond its limits.
Rescue operation–
Any salvage operation would be risky and difficult, Navy Chief Margono said. “We will discuss it to make a decision on how to lift the submarine in these conditions,” he said Sunday. “I want to pick it up, but how do we get it out of (these depths)?”
Neighboring Malaysia, as well as the United States, India, and Australia, were among the nations that assisted in the hunt. Search boats, reconnaissance aircraft and submarine rescue boats had 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.
The submarine, delivered to Indonesia in 1981, was in seaworthy condition, the military said. The model has been used by more than a dozen navies around the world. But researchers would consider the age of the Indonesian submarine as a potential factor, analysts said.
The disaster was one of a series of fatal underwater accidents in recent decades. One of the worst was the sinking of the Kursk in 2000, the pride of Russia’s Northern Fleet. That submarine was maneuvering in the Barents Sea when it sank with the loss of all 118 on board. An investigation found that one torpedo had exploded, detonating all the others.
Most of its crew died instantly, but some survived for several days before suffocating.
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