The possibility of rescuing 53 crewmen of the Indonesian military submarine missing since Wednesday sharply diminished on Saturday morning. Authorities fear that they have exhausted all their oxygen resources.
Hundreds of soldiers and twenty boats have been mobilized to locate the forty-year-old submarine KRI Nangla 402, which has not reacted since a dive north of the island of Bali.
The Navy estimated the maximum reserves of oxygen available to the crew at 72 hours in the event of a power failure. This time limit was crossed at around 2 am local time on Saturday morning, making their existence impossible.
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A Navy spokesman said, “I have not made any progress yet. I hope we will find him this afternoon. We are still investigating the area.”
Magnetic “object” detected
The Indonesian Navy says it detected an unknown, strongly magnetic “object” located between 50 and 100 meters deep on Thursday evening. If it is submersible, she tries to find it more accurately to verify. About twenty Indonesian warships are taking part with the help of Australia and the United States in the search.
According to experts, in the area where the submarine is submerged, an oil spill is scattered over the site, which gives rise to fears of possible breakdown of the reservoir, or displacement of the submarine.
Military officials initially announced that the submarine could sink to a depth of 700 meters, much higher than the depth for which it was designed.
The German-built submarine sought permission to dive for military exercises, including torpedo fire, before disappearing.
ats / sow
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