An Indonesian submarine that went missing off the coast of Bali has sunk, the country’s navy said on Saturday, dashing hopes that its 53 crew would be saved.
The navy’s chief said a search party had recovered fragments from the KRI Nanggala 402 including items from inside the vessel, whose oxygen reserves were already believed to have run out.
Warships, planes, and hundreds of military personnel have been searching for the stricken vessel. Authorities had said the German-built craft was equipped with enough oxygen for only three days after losing power.
That deadline passed earlier on Saturday.
“We have raised the status from submiss to subsunk,” navy chief Yudo Margono told reporters, adding that the retrieved items could not have come from another vessel.
“(The items) would not have come outside the submarine if there was no external pressure or without damage to its torpedo launcher.”
Navy officials displayed several items including a piece of a torpedo and a bottle of grease used to lubricate a submarine’s periscope.
