Politics
Haunting last footage on doomed Indonesia submarine shows crew singing to hit called ‘Goodbye’ weeks before all 53 died
A HAUNTING video shows a doomed submarine crew singing just weeks before all 53 of them died when the vessel sank.
The chilling final footage of the Indonesian sailors shows them smiling around a guitarist and singing a song entitled “goodbye”.
Underwater photo released by the Indonesian Navy shows parts of the sunken sub[/caption]
Indonesia’s military has officially announced that all 53 crew members are dead[/caption]
The discovery comes after the submarine disappeared early on Wednesday[/caption]
Just weeks later they were all killed when the military sub KRI Nanggala-402 sank to the bottom of the Bali Strait, splitting into three pieces.
Indonesian military chiefs released the video of the crew members singning after an anchor and fluorescent orange safety suits for emergencies were found.
On Sunday, the submarine was found cracked apart on the seafloor in waters off Bali, with all 53 crew confirmed dead.
“There were parts of KRI Nanggala 402 – it was broken into three pieces,” said Navy Chief of Staff Yudo Margono.
DOOMED SUB CREW
Authorities said that they received signals from the location more than 2,600ft underwater early on Sunday morning.
They said they had used an underwater submarine rescue vehicle supplied by Singapore to get visual confirmation.
Tjahjanto said more parts from the vessel were discovered on Sunday, including an anchor and safety suits worn by crew members.
The discovery comes after the submarine disappeared early on Wednesday during live torpedo training exercises off the holiday island.
With deep sadness, I can say that all 53 personnel onboard have passed
Indonesian military head Hadi Tjahjanto
The KRI Nanggala-402 submarine vanished about 60 miles off the coast of Bali.
On Saturday, a prayer mat and torpedo parts were found after the sub sank, extinguishing hope that the crew could be found alive.
Warships, planes and hundreds of military personnel mounted a desperate search for the missing sub, which had sunk to the bottom of the seabed.
An American reconnaissance plane, a P-8 Poseidon had been due to join the hunt, with 20 Indonesian ships, a sonar-equipped Australian warship and four Indonesian aircraft.
The sub was broken into three pieces, it was revealed on Sunday[/caption]
A military officer displays debris believed to be from a missing Indonesian Navy submarine KRI Nanggala[/caption]
Crew members of Indonesian Navy’s maritime patrol search for the submarine[/caption]
Search and rescue teams were on a mission to find any trace of the missing submarine[/caption]
But on Sunday, Indonesian military head Hadi Tjahjanto said there was no hope of finding the crew alive.
He said: “With deep sadness, I can say that all 53 personnel onboard have passed.
“We received underwater pictures that are confirmed as the parts of the submarine, including its rear vertical rudder, anchors, outer pressure body, embossed dive rudder and other ship parts.
‘”With this authentic evidence, we can declare that KRI Nanggala 402 has sunk and all the crew members are dead.”
The Inodesian navy said the sub sank to 2,000-2,300ft, much deeper than its collapse depth of 655ft when water pressure would crush the hull.
An underwater robot beamed back images showing the broken KRI Nanggala-402.
The KRI Nanggala-402 submarine disappeared about 60 miles off the coast of Bali early on Wednesday morning.
Six warships, a helicopter and 400 people were involved in the search.
Singapore and Malaysia dispatched ships, and the US, Australia, France, and Germany have offered assistance.
The German-built submarine had been conducting a drill but failed to report back and contact was lost, the navy said.
Some reports said contact was lost with the submarine after it was given clearance to dive into deeper waters.
An oil spill found near where the submarine dived could point to fuel tank damage, or could also be a signal from the crew, the navy said.
Berda Asmara’s husband Guntur Ari Prasetyo, 39, was been expected to return home from the submarine training mission.
‘Our last communication was on Monday when he was going to work,’ the mum-of-one told AFP in Surabaya.
“He said ‘pray for me that I’ll come home soon’.He told our daughter to listen to me and study hard.”
LIMITED OXYGEN
Yudo Margono, the navy chief of staff, said there would have been enough oxygen for the sailors to last until Saturday, and that the submarine had been cleared for use.
“The submarine has received a letter of feasibility from the navy,” he told a news conference.
“It was ready for battle.”
He also said authorities had found an item with “high magnetic force” floating at a depth of 50 to 100 metres.
The navy chief was speaking alongside the chief of Indonesia’s military and its defence minister, Prabowo Subianto, at a news conference in Bali a day after the submarine went missing while conducting a torpedo drill north of the island.
The 1,395-tonne vessel was built in Germany in 1977, according to the defence ministry, and joined the Indonesian fleet in 1981.
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It underwent a two-year refit in South Korea that was completed in 2012.
Prabowo acknowledged it was “imperative that we should modernise our defence equipment faster”.
He did not suggest there were any problems with the vessel.
Relatives of those on board hold up pictures of them[/caption]
Indonesian Military chief Hadi Tjahjanto boards a helicopter during the search mission for the missing Indonesian Navy submarine KRI Nanggala[/caption]
