Indonesia mourns sailors of sunken submarine
There is no hope of rescuing the 53 crew members alive. The vessel, which went missing on 21 April, lays broken in three parts, at a depth of more than 800 metres in the Bali Sea. The government plans to help the families of the lost sailors with aid for their children’s education.
Jakarta (AsiaNews) – Indonesia is mourning the death of the crew of the KRI Nanggala-402 submarine.
Hope for rescue was dashed after the vessel was found split in three parts at the bottom of the sea off the coast of Bali at more than 800 metres on the seafloor.
“With deep sadness, I can say that all 53 personnel on board have died,” Indonesian Military Chief Air Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto announced yesterday after the wreckage of the 59.5 metre, 1,395-tonne, German-built vessel was found.
Social media were flooded with hundreds of messages of prayer and condolence for the victims and their families after days of hope of finding the sailors alive.
Fr You Bintoro, chaplain of the Indonesian Air Force, called on Indonesia’s Catholic community to hold a special memorial service for the missing sailors.
Bah Yoto Eki Setiawan, originally from Sidareja, Cilacap District, was one of the sailors on the submarine.
AsiaNews contacted the headmaster of his old school, who expressed the deep sadness of educational establishment. “He was one of us,” said the principal, proudly showing the sailor’s photo as a student and a copy of his diploma.
“The KRI Nanggala is divided into three parts, the hull of the ship, the stern of the ship, and the main parts are all separated, with the main part found cracked,” said Admiral Yudo Margono, chief of staff of the Indonesian Navy.
Debris from the KRI Nanggala is scattered all over the area. Contact with the vessel was lost on 21 April, shortly after it asked permission to dive in the Bali Sea for an exercise. There is no plausible explanation for the vessel’s electrical blackout.
In Indonesia, the incident has reignited the debate over its reliance on old military materiel. Greater defence spending is an issue in Indonesia’s parliament.
The submarine was built in 1979 and underwent a refit in 2012 in South Korea; however, an oil slick suggests some kind of structural failure.
Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo described the sailors as the “best patriots” the country could have.
The government promoted all the dead sailors for their “brave service to the nation,” the president said. Their children will also receive financial aid in their studies.
Now the priority is to recover the wreckage from a depth of 838 metres, but no details have been provided about the challenging operation.
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22/04/2021 10:05
