Indonesia navy says sub with 53 aboard sank
BANYUWANGI, Indonesia — Indonesia’s navy on Saturday declared its missing submarine had sunk and cracked open after discovering items from the vessel over the past two days, apparently ending hope of finding any of the 53 crew members alive.
Military chief Hadi Tjahjanto said the presence of an oil slick as well as debris near the site where the submarine last dove Wednesday off the island of Bali were clear proof the KRI Nanggala 402 had sunk.
Indonesian officials earlier considered the vessel to be only missing, but said the submarine’s oxygen supply would have run out early Saturday.
The navy previously said it believes the submarine sank to a depth of 2,0002,300 feet, much deeper than its collapse depth of 655 feet, at which point water pressure would be greater than the hull could withstand.
“With the authentic evidence we found believed to be from the submarine, we have now moved from the ‘sub miss’ phase to ‘sub sunk,’ ” Navy Chief Yudo Margono said Saturday at a press conference, in which the found items were displayed.
The cause of the disappearance was still uncertain. The navy had previously said an electrical failure could have left the submarine unable to execute emergency procedures to resurface.
Margono said that in the past two days, searchers found parts of a torpedo straightener, a grease bottle believed to be used to oil the periscope, debris from prayer rugs and a broken piece from a coolant pipe that was refitted on the submarine in South Korea in 2012.
Margono said no bodies have been found so far.