Indonesia racing to locate missing submarine as its oxygen will run out on Saturday
- Experts say the submarine, with 53 people on board, may have sunk too deep to be retrieved
- Officials reported an oil slick and the smell of diesel fuel near the starting position of its last dive, north of Bali
Indonesia’s navy ships on Thursday were intensely searching for a submarine that likely fell too deep to retrieve, making survival chances for the 53 people on board slim. Authorities said oxygen in the submarine would run out by early on Saturday.
The diesel-powered KRI Nanggala 402 was participating in a training exercise on Wednesday when it missed a scheduled reporting call. Officials reported an oil slick and the smell of diesel fuel near the starting position of its last dive, about 96km north of the resort island of Bali, though there has been no conclusive evidence that they are linked to the submarine.
“Hopefully we can rescue them before the oxygen has run out” at 3am on Saturday, Indonesia’s navy chief of staff, Adm. Yudo Margono, told reporters.
He said rescuers found an unidentified object with high magnetism in the area and that officials hope it’s the submarine.
The navy believes the submarine sank to a depth of 600-700 metres – much deeper than its collapse depth estimated at 200 metres by a firm that refitted the vessel in 2009-2012.
Ahn Guk-hyeon, an official from South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering, said the submarine would collapse if it goes deeper than about 200 metres because of pressure. He said his company upgraded much of the Indonesian submarine’s internal structures and systems but it lacks latest information about the vessel.