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 meters (2,000-2,300 feet) much deeper than its collapse depth estimated at 200 meters (656 feet) 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 around 200 meters 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.
As Indonesia searches for sub, many fear it s too deep to be rescued
April 22, 2021 / 8:01 AM / AP
Jakarta, Indonesia 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 Saturday. The diesel-powered KRI Nanggala 402 was participating in a training exercise 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 60 miles north of the resort island of Bali, though there has been no conclusive evidence that they are linked to the submarine.
(AFP via Getty Images)
Countries from around the world are offering support to help locate and rescue the crew.
Time is short: The sub was only equipped with 72 hours of oxygen and may be too deep for rescue.
Countries from around the world are sending reinforcements to assist in the search for a Indonesian naval submarine that went missing on Wednesday.
The 53-person crew was participating in a torpedo drill north of Bali but failed to relay the results of the drill, an Indonesian Navy spokesperson told Reuters. Hadi Tjahjanto, the commander of the Indonesian National Armed Forces, said the submarine lost contact with the military at 4:30 a.m. local time on Wednesday.
Earlier, defence officials had said they believed the ship had an electrical failure during the dive, causing it to lose control and preventing it from resurfacing. They believe it may have sunk to a depth of 600-700 metres.
Frank Owen, a submarine rescue expert, told the Guardian that this particular vessel was only designed to dive to a depth of less than half that.
“The submarine is designed to go to about 250 metres, and they usually have probably double that as a safety margin, but when you’re starting to get below that, who knows?
“At that depth of water, they could still be in one piece, but there probably would have been lots of buckling. If something fails, then everything fails.”