Indonesian navy patrol boat KRI Singa (651) leaving Banyuwangi naval base, Saturday April 24, 2021. – SONNY TUMBELAKA / AFP
There was hardly any hope of finding any survivors. The Indonesian Navy announced on Sunday that it had found the submarine that sank off Bali and confirmed that the 53 crew members were all dead.
The submarine, broken into three parts and which had disappeared Wednesday, was found in the seabed off Bali, according to Navy Chief of Staff Yudo Margono. Indonesian Armed Forces Commander Hadi Tjahjanto confirmed to reporters that “the 53 crew members are all dead.”
Debris from the submarine recovered at sea on Saturday
Hundreds of soldiers and twenty boats were mobilized to locate the KRI Nanggala 402, a submersible forty years old of German construction.
Debris from the submarine was recovered at sea on Saturday. The Navy had found several items including a piece of the torpedo system and a bottle of grease used to lubricate the submarine’s periscope.
The submarine, one of five available to the Indonesian navy, dived early Wednesday during military exercises planned north of the island of Bali. Contact with the submersible was lost soon after. Military authorities estimate that the submersible may have sunk to a depth of 700 meters, a much greater depth than that for which it was designed.