Three Chinese Ships Assist In The Evacuation Of KRI Nanggala

Documentation of KRI Nanggala-402 (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - The Chinese naval army, the People Liberation Army Navy, will deploy a ship to help Indonesia evacuate the KRI Nanggala-402 submarine.

Head of the Naval Information Service (Kadispenal) Commodore (Navy) Julius Widjojono explained that this assistance originated from the offer of assistance from the Chinese Ambassador to Indonesia to Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto regarding the handling of KRI Nanggala-402.

Prabowo Subianto welcomed the offer. Then, China will deploy three salvage ships to help lift the KRI Nangala-402 ship which is on the seabed.

"The ships seconded to Indonesia are Ocean Salvage and Rescue Yongxingdao-863, Ocean Tug Nantuo-185 and Scientific Salvage Tan Suo 2," said Julius in his statement, Saturday, May 1.

Julius said that the three ships were expected to arrive in Bali waters on April 30 or early May 2021.

The specifications, Ocean Salvage and Rescue Yongxingdao-863 have a length of 156 meters, a width of 21 meters, and a height of 7.5 meters. This ship has robots, sonar, side scan, and boat rescue.

Meanwhile, Ocean Tug Nantuo-185 is 119 meters long, 16 meters wide and 6.5 meters high, while Scientific Salvage Tan Suo 2 is 87.2 meters long, 18 meters wide, and 7 meters high.

"The three salvage ships have the ability to dive up to a depth of 4500 meters," he said.

In addition to assistance from the Chinese government, Julius said that the plan to appoint the KRI Nanggala ship body and the crew who died were also working with SKK Migas which would operate the Timas 1201 ship.

"The ship to be operated has specifications, namely 162.3 meters long, 37.8 meters wide, and 16.1 meters high. This ship uses a crane with a capacity of 1,200 MT which is suitable for conventional platform installations," he said.

As is known, TNI Commander Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto on the fifth day of the search or on Sunday, April 25, announced that 53 soldiers on board the KRI Nanggala-402 submarine were declared dead during a torpedo shooting drill in North Bali waters.

The announcement was made after the search team found a number of authentic evidence showing the KRI Nanggala-402 sank at a depth of 838 meters and the hull of the ship was split into three parts.