Indonesia says 53 crew of lost sub are dead, wreckage found

A missing Indonesian submarine has been found, broken into at least three parts, deep in the Bali Sea, army and navy officials said on Sunday, as they confirmed that all 53 crew perished in the disaster.

Rescuers found new objects, including a life vest, that they believe belong to those aboard the 44-year old KRI Nanggala-402, which lost contact on Wednesday as it prepared to conduct a torpedo drill.

“Based on the evidence, it can be stated that the KRI Nanggala has sunk and all of its crew have died,” military chief Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto told reporters. An underwater robot equipped with cameras found the lost submarine was lying in at least three pieces on the ocean floor at a depth of 838 meters, said Navy chief of staff Yudo Margono.

That’s much deeper than the KRI Nanggala 402’s collapse depth of 200 meters, at which point water pressure would be greater than the hull could withstand, according to earlier navy statements.

The wreckage is located 1,500 meters to the south of the site where the submarine last dove on Wednesday, off Bali’s northern coast, Margono said.

The cause of the disappearance was still uncertain. The navy had previously said an electrical failure could have left the submarine unable to execute emergency procedures to resurface.

Margono said the crew were not to blame for the accident.

More than a dozen choppers and ships were searching the area where contact was lost.