JAKARTA: Indonesia on Friday intensified the search for a military submarine that went missing off Bali with 53 people onboard, deploying dozens of ships and a submarine.
The German-made KRI Nanggala-402 lost contact about 95 kilometres north of Bali in the early hours of Wednesday during a torpedo attack exercise with 49 crew members, three gunners and a commander, officials said.
Rescuers have less than a day until the oxygen reserve of the submarine is expected to run out.
“We are deploying 21 warships, including the KRI Alugoro, which is a submarine,” armed forces spokesman Achmad Riad said at a news conference.
The warships are supported by several civilian vessels, including ones equipped with sonar technology to detect underwater objects and remotely operated vehicles, he said.
Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, India and the United States were also sending rescue vessels and aircraft to support the search, he said.
Oxygen aboard the submarine could last until early Saturday, the Navy said on Thursday.
“In the event of an electrical failure, the oxygen can last approximately 72 hours,” Navy chief of staff Admiral Yudo Margono said. “It can last until Saturday 3 am. We hope that we can find it while the oxygen reserve is still available,” he said. The Navy said that the submarine was suspected to be 600-700 metres underwater, although it was designed to dive only to depths of 250-500 metres.
Aerial surveillance by a helicopter found an oil spill in the location where the submarine was last detected, but it was not clear if it was connected to the accident.
Meanwhile, relatives of the crew members were anxiously waiting for news about their loved ones.
Yayak Dwi Ernawati said she believed that her son-in-law Second Sargeant Pandu Yudha Kusuma, who married her daughter two months ago, would return safely.
“Three days after the wedding, he left for Surabaya and on Monday they called us that he was joining a military drill,” Yayak was quoted as saying by Antara news agency. “We haven’t received complete information from the naval base,” she added.
The Nanggala-402, based in Indonesia’s second-largest city Surabaya,was built by German company Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft in Kiel in the late 1970s.
Indonesia has five submarines, including the missing one.
The military said last year that two of the submarines are out of service.
Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto said on Thursday that the accident underscored the need for the country to modernise its equipment.
— dpa
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