There are 53 on board the missing sub.
HONG KONG – An Indonesian submarine with 53 on board is feared missing after the country’s army lost contact with it on Wednesday during a torpedo training exercise early in the morning in the waters north of Bali.
The 42-year-old submarine made in Germany, KRI Nanggala-402, is part of the Indonesian navy’s second fleet and was carrying out naval exercises that were to culminate on Thursday.
Indonesia’s military chief, Marshal Hadi, told local media that he had sought assistance from Singapore and Australia, with which Jakarta had signed submarine rescue agreements. He is expected to join several Indonesian warships already dispatched to the area to assist in the rescue efforts.
Tjahjanto is expected to travel to Bali on Thursday morning, where he was originally scheduled to oversee the latest exercises, but will now provide an update on the KRI Nanggala search.
Tjahjanto told local Kompas media that the submarine disappeared into the water about 60 miles north of the island of Bali around 3 a.m. local time, but told Reuters they lost contact around 4:30 p.m.
“Just when the diving permit was granted, after the permit was granted, the contact was immediately lost,” Hadi told Kompas.
A source in the Indonesian navy told ABC News that the Nanggala-402 was last in contact around 3 a.m. when it was granted diving permission. The Navy expected the crew to check in before reappearing around 6 a.m. local time for a flotilla exercise.
According to the source, the surface crew became increasingly concerned with each passing hour until, according to Janes, a defense news outlet, the Indonesian armed forces sent a distress call to the International Rescue Liaison Office. and rescue the submarines at about 9:37 a.m. local time to report that the submarine is missing with the presumption that it sank.
According to Reuters, the 1,395-ton ship was built in 1978 and underwent a two-year upgrade in South Korea in 2012.