Graphic shows Indonesia’s missing submarine.
GN41272AR

عسكري

اختفاء غواصة تابعة لقوات البحرية الإندونيسية

By Duncan Mil

April 22, 2021 - Indonesia, Australia and Singapore are searching for an Indonesian navy submarine that went missing north of the resort island of Bali with 53 people on board. The KRI Nanggala-402 was participating in a training exercise.

Nanggala was off the coast of Bali when it requested permission to dive to take part in a missile drill -- it subsequently missed a scheduled reporting call.

Rescuers have found an oil slick and the smell of diesel fuel near the starting position of its last dive, about 96 kilometres (60 miles) north of Bali.

Indonesia’s navy chief of staff, Adm. Yudo Margono, told reporters Thursday (April 22) that oxygen in the submarine would run out by Saturday morning. Margono said rescuers had found an unidentified object with high magnetism in the area that could be the boat.

The navy said it believes the submarine sank to a depth of 600-700 metres (2,000-2,300 feet) -- much deeper than its collapse depth estimated at 200 metres (656 feet).

Ahn Guk-hyeon, an official at South Korea’s DSME -- the yard that refitted the boat in 2012 -- told the Associated Press that the submarine would collapse if it goes deeper than around 200 metres because of pressure.

Nanggala is a German-built vessel that has been in service since 1981. It is one of two Cakra-class type-209 submarines operated by Indonesia’s navy. According to Janes, an open-source intelligence company, it also has three other type-209 models built more recently in South Korea and Indonesia.

Sources
PUBLISHED: 22/04/2021; STORY: Graphic News
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