The Indian Navy on Thursday dispatched its Deep Submergence Rescue Vessel (DSRV) from Visakhapatnam to support the Indonesian Navy in search and rescue efforts for its submarine KRI Nanggala that went missing on Wednesday with 53 onboard.
“On April 21, an alert was received by Indian Navy through International Submarine Escape and Rescue Liaison Office (ISMERLO), regarding the missing Indonesian submarine. The submarine was reportedly exercising in a location 25 miles North of Bali with a crew of 53 personnel,” the navy said in a statement.
The DSRV departed by sea and has to cover a distance of approximately 2,500 nautical miles, a Navy official said. Consultations are on between senior Defence Ministry officials of India and Indonesia, it has been learnt.
Air Chief Marhal Hadi Tjahjanto, Commander of Indonesian armed forces, had said that KRI Nanggala 402 was participating in a torpedo firing exercise when it went missing and is believed to have disappeared about 60 miles north of Bali. The Indonesian Defence Ministry said the submarine lost contact after being granted clearance to dive.
Indonesian Navy launched a massive search and rescue effort for the missing submarine and also requested assistance from countries in the region which had submarine rescue capability. The missing personnel comprises of 49 crew members, three gunners and its commander. The German-built submarine was in service with the Indonesian Navy since 1981 and completed a two year refit in South Korea in 2012.
India is amongst the few countries in the world capable of undertaking Search and Rescue of a disabled submarine through a DSRV, the Navy said. “Indian Navy’s DSRV system can locate a submarine upto 1000 m depth utilising its state of the art Side Scan Sonar (SSS) and Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV),” it stated adding, that after the submarine is successfully located, another sub module of DSRV – the Submarine Rescue Vehicle (SRV) – mates with the submarine to rescue the trapped personnel. The SRV can also be used to provide emergency supplies to the submarine.
Under the framework of comprehensive strategic partnership between India and Indonesia, Indian and Indonesian Navy have been exercising regularly and deepened cooperation in recent years.
Singapore Navy has already pressed its rescue vessel while Australia too has offered assistance.
“RSN’s MV Swift Rescue – our submarine rescue vessel – was dispatched expeditiously yesterday afternoon, as fast as she could get ready, after our Navy Chief received a request for assistance from his Indonesian counterpart. A medical team was also added to the regular crew in the event that hyperbaric care would be needed,” said Singapore Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen on Twitter.
The site for search operations, near Bali, is more than 1,500 km away and waters are deep, which is why MV Swift Rescue sailed off as soon as she could, Mr. Ng said in a Facebook post.
Indian Navy acquired the DSRV, a critical capability for submarine rescue, in December 2018 and has since deployed two DSRVs at Mumbai and Visakhapatnam on the West and East coast respectively to provide redundancy, operational availability and early response to deal with any submarine contingency.
The Indian DSRV, supplied by James Fisher Defence, U.K., is the latest in terms of technology and capabilities, one official said.
(With inputs from agencies)