Missing submarine sunk after cracking open – Indonesian navy

Indonesia’s navy has said items were found from a missing submarine, indicating the vessel with 53 crew members had sunk and cracked open, and that there was no hope of finding survivors.

Military chief Hadi Tjahjanto said on Saturday the presence of an oil slick as well as the discovery of debris near the location of KRI Nanggala 402's last dive on Wednesday off the island of Bali were clear proof the vessel had sunk. Indonesia earlier considered the vessel to be only missing.

Navy Chief Yudo Margono told a press conference in Bali, “If it's an explosion, it will be in pieces.

The cracks happened gradually in some parts when it went down from 300 meters to 400 meters to 500 meters ... If there was an explosion, it would be heard by the sonar."

The navy previously said it believes the submarine sank to a depth of 600-700 metres (2,000-2,300 feet), much deeper than its collapse depth of 200 meters (655 feet), at which point water pressure would be greater than the hull could withstand.

The cause of the disappearance was still uncertain. The navy had previously said an electrical failure could have left the submarine unable t o execute emergency procedures to resurface.

Margono said that in the past two days, searchers found parts of a torpedo straightener, a grease bottle believed to be used to oil the periscope, debris from prayer rugs and a broken piece from a coolant pipe that was refitted on the submarine in South Korea in 2012.

“With the authentic evidence we found believed to be from the submarine, we have now moved from the ‘sub miss’ phase to ‘sub sunk,’” Margono said at the press conference, in which the found items were displayed.

Margono said rescue teams from Indonesia and other countries will evaluate the findings.

He said no bodies have been found so far. Officials previously said the submarine’s oxygen supply would have run out early Saturday.

International search efforts

The United States is also deploying a P-8 Poseidon aircraft to assist in the search and rescue operation for a missing Indonesian navy submarine lost in the Bali Sea.

Australia has also deployed a sonar-equipped frigate with a helicopter to help the submarine hunt, while navy officials said vessels are on route from India and Singapore, as concerns grow that the submarine might have been crushed by water pressure.

"The possibility of it having fallen underneath its maximum diving depth thereby leading to the implosion of the submarine will have to be considered," said Collin Koh, Research Fellow at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies.

If the submarine was still intact, Indonesian officials said on Friday it would only have enough air to last until around dawn on Saturday if equipment was functioning properly.

"So far we haven't found it...but with the equipment available we should be able to find the location," Achmad Riad, a spokesman for the Indonesian military, told a news conference.

Oxygen scarcity, blackout 

Koh said the assumption that the submarine had 72 hours of oxygen was optimistic given the submarine's limited ability to generate oxygen due to its conventional power generation.

"So there's a possibility...oxygen might have already run out," said Koh.

Indonesia's navy said it was investigating whether the submarine lost power during a dive and could not carry out emergency procedures as it descended to a depth of 600-700 metres, well beyond its survivable limits.

Indonesian navy retired rear admiral Frans Wuwung, who had previously headed the submarine's machinery room, told Indonesian news channel MetroTV that he believed a blackout was likely and could have caused the crew to panic.

"A blackout means the vessel's equipment cannot be moved," he said.

A depth over 500 metres can be catastrophic 

An object with "high magnetic force" had been spotted "floating" at a depth of 50-100 metres, Indonesian Navy Chief of Staff Yudo Margono said, and an aerial search had earlier spotted an oil spill near the submarine's last location.

The diesel-electric powered submarine could withstand a depth of up to 500 metres but anything more could be fatal, navy spokesman Julius Widjojono said.

Experts like Koh say Indonesia will have to expand the area of search again if the magnetic anomaly is proven not to be the vessel and warn that if the submarine is lost at an "extreme depth", it might not be possible to retrieve.

The Bali Sea can reach depths of more than 1,500 metres.

One of the people on board was the commander of the Indonesian submarine fleet, Harry Setiawan.

Late on Friday, the Pentagon said US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin had spoken with his Indonesian counterpart Prabowo Subianto and offered additional support, which could include undersea search assets.

READ MORE: Desperate, Indonesia scrambles to find submarine before oxygen runs out