- Australia has agreed to help Indonesia find a missing submarine that has 53 people on board
- The Indonesian navy lost its German-made submarine, KRI Nanggala-402, after conducting a torpedo drill just off the coast of Bali
- According to the military chief Hadi Tjahjanto, the vessel lost contact at 4:30 am local time on Wednesday and recovery teams have been searching the deep waters ever since
- A helicopter found an oil slick near the submarine’s starting position
- According to Indonesian authorities, the oil spill could mean there was damage to the vessel’s fuel tank or could be a signal from the crew
- The Australian Navy will help with its neighbouring country in any way it can
Australia has agreed to help the Indonesian navy search for a missing submarine believed to have 53 people on board.
The German-made submarine, KRI Nanggala-402, was conducting a torpedo drill just off the coast of Bali but failed to relay results as expected.
According to the military chief Hadi Tjahjanto, the vessel lost contact at 4:30 am local time on Wednesday and recovery teams have been searching the deep waters ever since.
An aerial search found an oil slick near the dive’s starting position. According to Indonesian authorities, the oil spill could mean there was damage to the vessel’s fuel tank or could be a signal from the crew.
The navy said an electrical failure may have occurred during the dive, causing the vessel to lose control and unable to undertake emergency procedures that would have allowed it to resurface.
It is expected the submarine sank to a depth of 600 to 700 metres. The submarine was carrying 49 crew members, its commander and three gunners.
Hadi said the navy has deployed ships to search the area. This includes a hydrographic survey ship. He has also asked for help from Singapore and Australia who have submarine rescue vessels.
Australia has now reached out and will utilise the ADF to help Indonesia find this missing submarine.
“We are obviously very concerned about these reports. It’s very distressing for families and particularly for the Indonesian Navy,” Foreign Minister Marise Payne said.
“We’ve indicated that we will help in any way we can. We operate very different submarines from this one, but the Australian Defence Force and Australian Defence organisation will work with defence operations in Indonesia to determine what we may be able to do,” she told reporters.
“We will go to the support of our neighbour in any way we can.”