Jakarta
Indonesia’s navy on Saturday said items were found from a missing submarine, indicating the vessel with 53 crew members had sunk and there was no hope of finding survivors.
Navy Chief Yudo Margono said rescuers found several items from the KRI Nanggala 402, which disappeared after its last reported dive on Wednesday off the resort island of Bali, including parts of a torpedo straightener, a grease bottle believed to be used to oil the periscope and prayer rugs.
“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 a press conference in Bali where the found items were displayed.
Officials previously said the submarine’s oxygen supply would have run out early on Saturday. Indonesia had considered the submarine as just missing.
An American reconnaissance plane, a P-8 Poseidon, landed early on Saturday and was set to join the search, along with 20 Indonesian ships, a sonar-equipped Australian warship and four Indonesian aircraft.
Singaporean rescue ships were also expected later on Saturday, while Malaysian rescue vessels were due to arrive on Sunday, bolstering the underwater hunt, Indonesia military spokesperson Djawara Whimbo said earlier.
He had said Indonesia’s hydrographic vessel was still unable to detect an unidentified object exhibiting high magnetism that was earlier detected located at a depth of 50 to 100 meters (165 to 330 feet).
There had been no signs of life from the submarine, but family members held out hope that the massive search effort would find the vessel in time.—AP
