The submarine missing off Bali with 53 men on board has “sunk”, the Indonesian navy confirmed on Saturday, leaving little hope of survival for the crew whose oxygen reserves would be exhausted.
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The navy found at sea several debris of the submarine, which we have not heard from since Wednesday, some of which came from inside the submersible, suggesting irreparable damage.
Hundreds of soldiers and twenty boats are mobilized to locate the KRI Nanggala 402, a submersible forty years old of German construction.
The navy had estimated at 72 hours the maximum reserves of oxygen available to crew members in the event of a power failure and this deadline was passed early Saturday morning, making their survival unlikely.
“Based on what we believe to come from KRI Nanggala, we changed the status of the submarine from + disappeared + to + sunk +,” Yudo Margono, Indonesian Navy spokesman, told a conference. Press.
The debris found “could not have come out of the submarine without external pressure or without damage to its torpedo launcher system,” he said.
The Navy recovered several items including a piece of the torpedo system and a bottle of grease used to lubricate the submarine’s periscope.
She also found a prayer rug, used by Muslims.
The search continues but a deep rescue operation appears “very risky and difficult”, noted the spokesman for the navy.
“We do not know the state of the victims since we have not yet found any.” “But after finding these objects, you can make your own conclusions.”
The submarine, one of five available to the Indonesian navy, dived early Wednesday during military exercises planned north of the island of Bali. Contact with the submersible was lost soon after.
Military authorities estimate that the submersible may have sunk to a depth of 700 meters, a much greater depth than that for which it was designed.
They did not offer an explanation as to what may have happened or why he had more occupants than the planned quarantine.
A slick of oil spotted in the area where he dived gives rise to fears of a possible rupture of the reservoir, or even a dislocation of the submarine, according to experts.
This slick of fuel is a “bad sign”, noted the retired French vice-admiral Jean-Louis Vichot, ex-commander of a nuclear missile submarine (SNLE).
“This diesel is contained in the bunkers, outside and inside. If the hull cracks, the tanks will break and the diesel will rise to the surface, ”he told AFP.
This type of submarine is made to withstand pressure up to 300 or 400 meters deep. Their shell is likely to rupture in case of stronger pressure, according to this expert.
The Navy said the submarine, delivered to Indonesia in 1981, was in good condition for service.
The Southeast Asian archipelago does not have its own submarine rescue capabilities and has called in foreign navies.
The United States sent airborne troops while two Australian Navy ships arrived in the area.
Reinforcements from India and Malaysia as well as a Singaporean vessel specializing in submarine rescue, the MV Swift Rescue, are also expected.
Indonesia has never before experienced serious incidents related to its submersibles, but several other countries have been hit by fatal accidents.
In 2000, the nuclear-powered submarine Kursk, the flagship of the Russian Northern Fleet, sank during maneuvers in the Barents Sea (northwestern Russia), resulting in the death of 118 crew members.
In 2017, the Argentine submarine San Juan, with 44 sailors on board, disappeared some 400 kilometers from the coast.