Indonesia officials say they are looking for a missing submarine with 53 individuals on board that went missing throughout a military exercise on Wednesday. They are requesting assistance from neighboring Singapore and Australia in the search.
The Indonesian Ministry of Defense said the KRI Nanggala-402, a German-made submarine, lost contact during a torpedo drill in the Bali Strait, a stretch of water connecting the Indian Ocean and the Bali Sea between the islands of Java and Bali.
Indonesia seeks for missing submarine with 53 people on board
According to the report, before losing contact, the submarine requested authorization to sink or submerge at 3 a.m. local time (3 p.m. ET). Around 7 a.m. local time, an oil leak was seen in aerial observation near the dive point, said the statement.
On Wednesday night, Indonesian Navy spokesman Colonel Julius Widjojono told local media that the oil spill was "highly believed" to have originated from the vessel, CNN reported. He said that the submarine can dive to a depth of 500 meters below sea level but that they are now concerned that it has descended to 200 meters lower than that depth. He said, "Let's pray for them so they can survive."
The navy said the oil leak on the surface might indicate damage to the submarine's fuel tank or signal from the crew. According to a spokesperson, the military chief will hold a press conference from Bali on Thursday to provide more details about the search. Soleman Ponto, a military observer, said it was too early to speculate about the submarine's fate, as per the SCMP.
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Military chief Hadi Tjahjanto told Reuters earlier on Wednesday that they were looking for 53 people in the waters off Bali, 60 miles (96 kilometers) away. The Ministry of Defense said the search is carried out by two Indonesian warships armed with side-scan sonar, a device used to chart the seafloor. The International Submarine Escape and Rescue Liaison Office (ISMERLO), which coordinates an international response to stranded submarines, lends a hand to the search.
Several countries have offered to help, including India, Singapore, and Australia. A statement from the Ministry of Defense said that the 1,395-ton KRI Nanggala-402 was designed in 1977 by the German shipbuilding firm Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW) and entered the Indonesian Navy in 1981.
According to the Indonesian cabinet secretariat's website, the submarine underwent a two-year refit in South Korea, which was completed in 2012. In the past, Indonesia had a fleet of 12 submarines that it bought from the Soviet Union to patrol the seas of its vast archipelago.
It currently has only five submarines, two of which were constructed in Germany and three of which were built in South Korea.
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Indonesia calls on Australia, Singapore for help
Indonesia has requested assistance from Australia and Singapore to hunt for the lost naval submarine carrying 53 people. During the torpedo military exercise, officials fear the submarine sunk to the bottom of a trough with a depth of 2,300 feet. Several navy vessels have been sent to hunt for the missing submarine, as per Daily Mail.
"The submarine lost contact and could not be reached after permission was granted according to protocol," Indonesia's Defense Ministry said.
Australia's Foreign Minister, Marise Payne, said that the country would help in every way possible.
Indonesia has been working to improve its defense capability. But some of its current equipment is outdated, and there have been fatal incidents involving older military transport planes in recent years.
During a training exercise in the mountainous area of Papua in 2016, an Indonesian air force transport plane crashed into a cliff, killing all 13 people on board. In 2015, an Indonesian military transport plane crashed two minutes after takeoff into a northern suburban area, killing over 100 people.
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