JAKARTA – An Indonesian submarine that went missing this week has been found broken into at least three parts, deep in the Bali Sea.
The country’s army and navy officials also confirmed all 53 crew members inside the missing KRI Nanggala-402 submarine have died.
“With deep sadness, I can say that all 53 personnel onboard have passed,” Indonesian military head Hadi Tjahjanto told the media on Sunday.
“We received underwater pictures that are confirmed as the parts of the submarine, including its rear vertical rudder, anchors, outer pressure body, embossed dive rudder and other ship parts,” he told a joint press conference, saying the next step is to lift the wreckage of the vessel with the help of foreign navies.
The submarine – one of five in Indonesia’s fleet – disappeared early Wednesday while it was scheduled to do live torpedo training exercises off Bali.
The crew asked for permission to dive. It lost contact shortly after.
Later, search teams spotted an oil spill where the vessel was thought to have submerged, pointing to possible fuel-tank damage, and a catastrophic accident.
A number of countries, including Russia, the United States, Germany, France, India, Turkey and Australia, had offered assistance to Indonesia in an operation to find the submarine that was delivered to Indonesia in 1981.
