JAKARTA, Indonesia
Turkey has offered to help search efforts for an Indonesian submarine, which lost contact in the waters off Bali on Wednesday, said officials.
Maj. Gen. Achmad Riad, head of the Indonesian National Armed Forces Information Center, said on Thursday that Turkey and several other countries offered support to locate the missing KRI Nanggala-402 sub, including the US, France, Russia, India, and Australia.
"Currently, it has been confirmed that Singapore’s MV Swift Rescue and Malaysia’s MV Mega Bakti will provide assistance, they will arrive on April 24 and 25 respectively," Riad told reporters at Ngurah Rai Bali Airbase.
Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto, commander of the Indonesian National Armed Forces, said he will keep close contact with the foreign minister on these offers for help.
An Indonesian military sub with 53 crew members on board on Wednesday lost contact during an exercise in the waters off the island of Bali.
The navy estimated the submarine was at a depth of 700 meters (2,297 feet) when it lost contact.
Earlier, Tjahjanto said the military had deployed all vessels with underwater detection systems to do searches in an area around 95 kilometers (60 miles) from Bali.
Searches using active sonar have yet to find the sub.
The KRI Nanggala-402 was built at Howaldtswerke Deutsche Werft in Germany in 1977 and entered service with the Indonesian Navy in 1981. It is a 209/1300-type submarine that is widely used by world navies.
*Writing by Rhany Chairunissa Rufinaldo with Anadolu Agency's Indonesian language services in Jakarta
A helicopter carrying the Indonesian Military Commander Hadi Tjahjanto takes off heading to the Suharso Warship for the search operation of submarine KRI Nanggala 402 which went missing in the waters off the island of Bali in Bali, Indonesia on April 22, 2021.
