The submarine that sank off Bali with 53 men on board Wednesday April 21 was found in the seabed, according to Navy Chief of Staff Yudo Margono.

Indonesian Armed Forces Commander Hadi Tjahjanto confirmed to reporters that "the 53 crew members [were] all dead." 

Indonesian President Joko Widodo offered his condolences to the families of the submarine's crew on Sunday.

Hundreds of soldiers, planes and warships were mobilized to locate the "KRI Nanggala 402", a submersible forty years old of German construction, disappeared Wednesday during maneuvers. 

The navy had estimated at 72 hours the maximum reserves of oxygen available to crew members in the event of a power failure and this deadline was passed early Saturday morning, making their survival unlikely.

And the general staff formally changed the status of the submarine from "disappeared" to "sunk", which the Indonesian president took note of on Sunday. 

"We Indonesians wish to express our deep sadness about this incident, and especially to the families of the crew of the submarine," he told reporters.

"They were the best children of the Nation, the best patriots who protected the sovereignty of the Nation."  

Cause of sinking unknown 

Saying that the submarine has sunk is one way of saying that there is no longer any hope of finding any survivors.

However, those close to First Lieutenant Muhammad Imam Adi, 29 years old and father of a little boy, still wanted to believe it.

"My wish is that my son and all the crew can be found," said the father of the missing, Edy Sujianto, at his home on the island of Java.

"My son wanted to be in the military since he was little. It was his dream." 

 The Navy recovered several items including a piece of the torpedo system and a bottle of grease used to lubricate the submarine's periscope.

She also found a prayer rug [Indonesia is the most populous Muslim country in the world]. 

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 shortly thereafter.

The authorities gave no explanation for this sinking, but argued that the submarine could have been the victim of damage preventing it from resurfacing. 

The Chief of Staff of the Indonesian Navy Yudo Margono dismissed the thesis of the explosion, believing that everything suggested that the submarine had broken up under the pressure of the water at more than 800 meters above sea level. bottom, a much greater depth than that for which it was designed. 

The Navy had previously claimed that the submarine, delivered to Indonesia in 1981, was in good condition for service despite its age.

The Southeast Asian archipelago has never before suffered serious incidents related to its submersibles, but several other countries have been hit by fatal accidents. 

In 2000, the nuclear-powered submarine "Kursk", the flagship of the Russian Northern Fleet, sank during maneuvers in the Barents Sea (north-western Russia), resulting in the death of 118 members of the crew.

In 2017, the Argentine submarine "San Juan", with 44 sailors on board, disappeared some 400 kilometers from the coast. 

With AFP

The summary of the week

France 24 invites you to come back to the news that marked the week

I subscribe

Take international news everywhere with you!

Download the France 24 application

google-play-badge_FR