Indonesia continues search for submarine with 53 soldiers on board

An oil slick was detected in the area where the last signal sent by the submersible occurred, the Ministry of Defense announced on Wednesday evening.

“Around 7 am, surveillance by a helicopter discovered an oil spill where the submarine had disappeared,” he said in a statement.

The submarine, the “KRI Nanggala 402“He was going to participate in maneuvers including torpedo launches. He requested permission to dive early Wednesday morning, around 3:00 am (19:00 GMT).

“After the authorization was transmitted, the submarine lost contact and could not be contacted,” the ministry said.

Jakarta sent warships to the region and asked for help from Singapore, Australia and India.

The submarine could be found at a depth of 700 meters, north of the island of Bali, Indonesian armed forces commander Hadi Tjahjanto told AFP, adding that it had 53 crew members in edge.

The Indonesian Navy has a fleet of five submarines, built in Germany and South Korea.

The “KRI Nanggala 402” was launched in Germany in 1978, according to a government website, and subsequent modifications were made to modernize it. It’s a diesel submarine.

So far, Indonesia has not had any serious submarine-related incidents, but other countries have witnessed such tragedies.

One of the best known happened in 2000, when the Russian nuclear submarine “Kursk” sank while maneuvering in the Barents Sea with 118 crew on board.

In 2017, the submarine of the Argentine fleet “ARA San Juan”, with 44 crew members, disappeared about 400 km from the Argentine coast.