TOKYO — The search for a missing Indonesian submarine entered a second day on Thursday, with no indication yet of the cause of the incident or the location of the vessel.
Contact was lost with the KRI Nanggala 402 while it was preparing for a torpedo-firing exercise in the early morning of Wednesday in waters north of Bali. A total of 53 crew members were on board.
Indonesia’s military spokesperson Achmad Riad there are currently five ships and one helicopter conducting search missions near the spot where the submarine was last detected, and that a hydrographic survey ship was also on its way. Singapore and Malaysia have offered their assistance and are also sending vessels, the spokesperson said.
While some oil slicks were found yesterday and one of the search vessels reported detection of “underwater movement,” Riad said the Nanggala had not been found yet. “The last position is estimated to be 23 miles north of Bali island,” he said.
The last communication with Nanggala was at 4 a.m. on Wednesday. When the commander of the training task force tried to authorize the firing 25 minutes later, communication with the German-made submarine was lost. Nanggala had been in service since 1981.
Indonesia currently has a fleet of five submarines, and plans to operate at least eight by 2024 amid increasing challenges to its maritime claims — most notably from China.
The Indonesian navy last year conducted a four-day exercise in the South China Sea, in a show of force against Chinese claims to the waters.
A portion of the exercise was conducted near Indonesia’s Natuna Islands, where Chinese fishing vessels accompanied by Chinese-flagged government ships were repeatedly found. The borders of the exclusive economic zone around Natuna overlap with the “nine-dash line” map claimed by China.
In a letter to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in May last year, Indonesia said it is “not bound” by the Chinese nine-dash-line claim, which “lacks international legal basis.” The following month, Jakarta flatly rejected an offer to negotiate what Beijing called “overlapping claims.”
