A whole submarine has gone missing and no one knows anything about where it could be. It had 53 people on board. The report came from the Indonesian Navy, who have no idea where it could be at the moment. I mean how do you lose a submarine?
The submarine in question was a 44-year-old German-made KRI Nanggala 402. An old submarine but good enough even by today’s standards. The vessel was undergoing a training exercise but went missing off the coat of the island of Bali. It’s weird that it went missing without so much as a warning or any type of signal of danger. Usually, if there is a malfunction the first thing the crew does is ask for help.
According to Indonesian Military Chief, Hadi Tjahjanto, “We are still searching in the waters of Bali, 60 miles (96 km) from Bali, [for] 53 people”. Contact with the vessel was lost around 4:30 am local time on Wednesday. Since then Indonesia has deployed several ships which include a survey ship. They have even asked for help from Singapore and Australia who have been asked to send submarine rescue vessels if they can.
The only thing the search came up with was that the helicopters spotted an oil spill in the location where the vessel was given permission to dive. An oil spill means that either the vessel was damaged and its fuel tank started leaking or maybe the electronics have fried and the crew is sending a signal by purposefully leaking oil. You know kind of like bread crumbs.
According to a statement released by the Navy, “It is possible that during static diving, a blackout occurred so control was lost and emergency procedures cannot be carried out and the ship falls to a depth of 600-700 meters [2,000 to 2,300 feet]”.
We can only help that the crew is rescued in time. Being trapped in a huge metal container in the middle of the ocean is a very haunting scenario.