Frantic search for Indonesia submarine, but it may be too deep to help
NAVY SHIPS SEARCHING INTENSELY, SURVIVAL CHANCES FOR PEOPLE ON BOARD SLIM
Indonesia’s navy ships yesterday were intensely searching for a submarine that likely fell too deep to retrieve, making survival chances for the 53 people on board slim. Neighbouring countries rushed their rescue ships to support the complex operation.
The diesel-powered KRI Nanggala 402 was participating in a training exercise on Wednesday when it missed a scheduled reporting call. Officials reported an oil slick and the smell of diesel fuel near the starting position of its last dive, about 96 kilometres north of the resort island of Bali, though there has been no clear evidence that they are linked to the submarine.
Indonesia’s navy said it believes the submarine sank to a depth of 600-700 metres (2,000-2,300 feet) — much deeper than its collapse depth estimated at 200 metres (656 feet) by a firm that refitted the vessel in 2009-2012.
Ahn Guk-hyeon, an official at South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering, said most submarines collapse if they go deeper than 200 metres because of pressure on the hull. He said his company upgraded much of the Indonesian submarine’s internal structures and systems but it currently lacks information about the vessel because it hasn’t been involved with any work on the ship in the past nine years.
Rescue systems
Frank Owen, secretary of the Submarine Institute of Australia, also said the submarine could be at too great a depth for a rescue team to operate.
“Most rescue systems are really only rated to about 600 metres (1,969 feet),” he said. “They can go deeper than that because they will have a safety margin built into the design, but the pumps and other systems that are associated with that may not have the capacity to operate. So they can survive at that depth, but not necessarily operate.”
Indonesia’s military said that five navy ships and a helicopter were taking part in the search
while a hydro-oceanographic survey ship equipped with underwater detection capabilities is on its way to the site around the oil spills. Rescue ships from Singapore and Malaysia are
expected to arrive tomorrow. The military said Australia, the United States, Germany, France, Russia, India and Turkey have also offered assistance.
“The news of the missing submarine is deeply concerning,” Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said during a visit to New Zealand. “We will provide any assistance that we can. There’s no question that submarine search and rescues are very complex.”
Australian Defence Minister Peter Dutton called the incident “a terrible tragedy,” He
told Sydney Radio 2GB that fact that the submarine is “in a very deep part of waters” makes it “very difficult for the recovery or for location.”
Our fervent prayers and hopes go out to the crew of KRI Nanggala, for their safety and resilience.”
Electrical failure
Singapore’s Defence Minister Ng Eng He confirmed it had dispatched its submarine rescue vessel. “Our fervent prayers and hopes go out to the crew of KRI Nanggala, for their safety and resilience,” he wrote on Facebook.
Indonesia’s navy said an electrical failure may have occurred during the dive, causing the submarine to lose control and become unable to undertake emergency procedures that would have allowed it to resurface. It was rehearsing for a missile-firing exercise that was to take place on Thursday. Military chief Hadi Tjahjanto and other military leaders were to attend.
Ng Eng | Singapore’s Defence Minister