As 16th strongest country by military strength Indonesia is no stranger to naval accidents. In addition it is planned to have an active submarine fleet of 8 by 2024. Yet Today it has reportedly lost contact to one of its active submarines with a crew of 53 during practice drill. The drill took place near a large trench in the sea near the Bali island.
The missing submarine is known as ‘KRI Nanggala-402’, It is a 43 year old vessel, ordered in 1978 and completed in 1981. It is the only submarine along side the ‘KRI Cakra’ which are actively in use. The submarine has undergone a refit earlier this decade and now allows for a safe diving depth of 257m.
The vessel had lost contact about 60 miles north of the Bali island early Wednesday morning around 3:00 AM local time. “Right after being given permission to dive, after being given the clearance, lost contact,” reported the Indonesian military chief Hadi Tjahjanto.
The training drill has been a live torpedo early in the morning which was cut short after losing contact almost instantly after the dive. A helicopter was dispatched to search for the vessel and found an oil spill indicating damage to the body. The military has also depoyled over 400 personnel and 3 warships. One of the ships being from the capital of Jakarta.
In addition a distress signal has been sent out internationally causing several countries, including Singapore, India and Australia to join the search. Fortunately Southeast Asia has not experienced a submarine disaster. On the other hand many other countries have and this could be Indonesia’s first.
It is speculated that during the drill the submarine was above a 700 meter deep trench and the submarine lost power, explaining the loss of contact. This may have caused the vessel to sink below the 257 meter limit. Since below this limit the water pressure is too intense it may have imploded. This is not a rare occurrence as as recent as 2018 Argentina had a submarine implode as well.
Now all that we can do is wait and hope for the best…
