On Wednesday (21), a submarine with 53 people on board lost contact with the Indonesian Navy while performing training maneuvers in waters north of the island of Bali. ()See the map below with the location of the disappearance)
The Southeast Asian country’s defense ministry says the submarine lost contact after diving was allowed. According to local media, the Navy believes the vessel sank in a 700-meter-deep depression.
“We lost touch at 3 in the morning [horário local, 16h de terça-feira em Brasília]”Admiral Julius Vidjono, a spokesman for the Indonesian Navy, said,” The search is on and we know that this area is very deep. ”
Rescuers found an oil spill nearby, where the ship sankAccording to the officials. Two sonar-capable ships were sent to the area to aid in the search.
Authorities sought help from India, Singapore and Australia, which began to aid in the searches.
1977 German Submarine
Indonesia is the world’s largest archipelago, formed by more than 17 thousand islands. Bali is an island and province of the country between the islands of Java (in the west) and Lombok (in the east).
The submarine KRI Nanggala-402 weighs 1,395 tons and was built in 1977 in Germany. It was incorporated into the Indonesian fleet in 1981 and underwent a two-year renewal in South Korea, completed in 2012.
Military analyst Soleiman Ponto told the Reuters news agency that it was too early to determine what happened. “We do not yet know whether the communications equipment has broken down or the submarine has sunk. We will have to wait at least three days.”
