The Indonesian navy searches for a missing submarine this Wednesday with 53 crew members on board and has asked neighboring countries such as Australia and Singapore for help to trace the waters north of the island of Bali, military sources indicated.
According to an Army spokesman to the Kompas agency, the KRI Nanggala-402 submarine, manufactured in Germany in 1977, disappeared while conducting military exercises with torpedoes at a depth of about 700 meters at 3.00 local time (20.00 GMT the previous day) .
The submarine’s crew requested the dive permit at that time and shortly after contact with the ship was lost, so the vessels participating in the exercise began the search immediately.
Four hours later, the search teams located a fuel slick from a helicopter near the area where the submarine disappeared.
Commander Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto told Kompas that the ship disappeared shortly after obtaining the dive permit and assured that he will go to the site on Thursday to supervise the search operation, in which Australia and Singapore participate with special search submarines.
A letter from the Army signed on April 16 to which EFE had access invited the media to cover the military exercises planned for this Thursday of the KRI Nanggala-402, which included exercises with cannons, rockets and torpedoes in the Strait of Bali, which separates this island from the island of Java.
Indonesia currently has a fleet of five submarines, two made in Germany, including the missing one, and three made in South Korea.
