POWERFUL UNDERWATER WAVE LIKELY SUNK SUBMARINE, INDONESIA SAYS

Wed 28 April 2021:

Indonesian submarine KRI Nanggala-402 could have sunk due to a strong underwater wave, Rear Admiral Iwan Isnurwanto said on Tuesday.

Officers said that differences in the density of waters off Bali and in the nearby Lombok Strait may have triggered a “massive movement” strong enough to pull down the submarine in seconds.

Iwan Isnurwanto, commander of the Navy Staff and Command School, said the presence of the wave around the location of the submarine at the time of the accident last Wednesday was confirmed from images produced by Japanese weather satellite Himawari 8.

“There was nothing that they could do, no time to do anything… if the sub was brought down by such a wave. It likely angled [downward], causing all the crew members to roll down [to the bottom of the vessel],” Isnurwanto told a news briefing at navy headquarters in Jakarta. “We have to do further investigation, but that is most likely what happened.”

“If we are hit by an internal wave (coming from above), that would be nature we are up against. We would be dragged by the waves, sending us to a quick descent.

No one can fight nature,” Isnurwanto said at a media briefing, as quoted by the Strait Times newspaper, adding that the investigation is ongoing.

The submarine lost contact with the Indonesian navy last week after a training drill near Bali. It was discovered by the navy on Sunday, confirming the death of the entire 53-strong crew.

KRI Nanggala-402 was one of the five submarines in service of the country’s navy. It is said to have been upgraded ten years ago.

Officials dismissed speculation about other possible causes. These included allegations of poor maintenance of the aging submarine, human errors, as well as a rumor circulating on social media that it had been shot by a foreign vessel.

The KRI Nanggala 402 is a German-built submarine that had been in service since 1981, and underwent a full refit in South Korea that was completed in 2012.

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