Prayer mat and torpedo parts are only trace of Indonesian submarine which sank with 53 crew on board

A PRAYER mat and torpedo parts found today are the only trace of an Indonesian submarine which sank with 53 crew members on board.

Items found from the missing sub indicate that the vessel has sunk, the Indonesian navy said.

Rescuers found parts of a torpedo straightener, a grease bottle believed to be used to oil the periscope and prayer rugs from the sub, according to navy boss Admiral Yudo Margono. 

Rescue crews desperately searched to find the missing submarine before air supplies ran out, the navy’s chief of staff said.

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.

‘PRAY FOR ME’

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 be 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.

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.