Little hopes of saving a 53-man Indian submarine crew

Indonesia Polish Navy She sent search helicopters and ships to the area where contact with the KRI Nanggala-402 submarine was lost on Wednesday during torpedo exercises.

Australia also sent a frigate equipped with sonar and helicopter to help in the search for a missing unit of the Indonesian Navy.

The rescue ship intended for deep immersion is on its way from India. There are growing fears that the submarine may have been crushed by water pressure.

"We will have to consider the possibility that the ship fell below its maximum dive depth, which led to its implosion," said Dr. Collin Koh Swee Lean of the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies in Singapore. According to him, the assumption that the submarine had 72 hours of oxygen was optimistic, given its limited capacity to generate oxygen due to conventional power generation. "So there is a possibility... that oxygen may have run out," Koh said.

One of the people on board was the commander of the Indonesian submarine fleet Harry Setiawan.

Late Friday evening, the Pentagon reported that US defense minister Lloyd Austin had spoken to his Indonesian counterpart Prabowo Subianto and offered additional support covering the submarine search.

Source: PAP