There are 53 on board the missing sub.
HONG KONG – An Indonesian submarine with 53 on board is missing after the country’s army lost contact with it during a torpedo exercise in the waters north of Bali on Wednesday.
The 42-year-old German-made submarine, KRI Nanggala-402, is part of the 2nd Fleet of the Indonesian Navy and is taking in naval exercises that would end on Thursday.
The military chief of Indonesia, Marshal Hadi, told local outlets that he had asked Singapore and Australia for help, with whom Jakarta had signed submarine rescue agreements. They are expected to join several of the Indonesian warships already sent to the area to help with the rescue efforts.
Tjahjanto is expected to travel to Bali on Thursday morning, where he was originally to oversee the final rehearsals, but now he will give an update on the search for the KRI Nanggala.
Tjahjanto told local outlet Kompas that the submarine had disappeared into waters about 3km north of Bali Island, but told Reuters they lost contact around 4:30 p.m.
“Just when the diving permit was granted, the contact was immediately lost,” Hadi told Kompas.
A source in the Indonesian navy told ABC News that the Nanggala-402 was last in contact around 3am when he was given permission to dive. The navy expected the crew to check in before arriving locally for a flotilla exercise around 6 p.m.
According to the source, the crew of the surface became increasingly concerned with every hour of contact until, according to Janes, a defense news, the Indonesian army sent an emergency call to the International Submarine Escape and Rescue Liaison Office around 9: 37 hours local time to report the submarine as missing, with the suspicion that it sank.
According to Reuters, the 1 395 tonne vessel was built in 1978 and was sunk in 2012 in South Korea.