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world news Diabierna 23 aPriL 2021

Indonesia looking for submarine that may be too deep to help

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) 100 meters (165 to 330 feet) vice in Indonesia since 1981,
— Indonesian navy ships and that officials hope it's the was carrying 49 crew mem-
searched Thursday for a submarine. bers, its commander and
submarine that likely sank three gunners, the Indone-
too deep to retrieve, mak- The navy believes the sub- sian Defense Ministry said.
ing survival chances for marine sank to a depth of It had been maintained and
the 53 people on board 600-700 meters (2,000-2,300 overhauled in Germany, In-
slim. Authorities said feet), much deeper than its donesia and most recently in
oxygen in the submarine estimated collapse depth. South Korea.
would run out by early
Saturday. Ahn Guk-hyeon, an official More than 60 of the Type
from South Korea's Daewoo 209 class submarines have
The diesel-powered KRI Shipbuilding and Marine En- been sold and have served in
Nanggala 402 was partici- gineering, which refitted the 14 navies around the world,
pating in a training exercise vessel in 2009-2012, said the ThyssenKrupp Marine Sys-
Wednesday when it missed submarine would collapse if "Our main priority is the may have been caused by a tems spokesperson Eugen
a scheduled reporting call. it goes deeper than around safety of the 53 crew mem- crack in the submarine's tank Witte said.
Officials reported an oil slick 200 meters (655 feet) because bers," Widodo said in a tele- after the vessel sank.
and the smell of diesel fuel of pressure. He said his com- vised address. "To the fami- Indonesia, the world's larg-
near the starting position of pany upgraded much of the lies of the crew members, I Neighboring countries are est archipelago nation with
its last dive, about 96 kilome- submarine's internal struc- can understand your feelings rushing to join the complex more than 17,000 islands, has
ters (60 miles) north of the tures and systems but lacks and we are doing our best to operation. faced growing challenges to
resort island of Bali, though recent information about the save all of the crew members its maritime claims in recent
there was no conclusive evi- vessel. on board." Indonesia's navy said an elec- years, including numerous
dence that they were linked trical failure may have oc- incidents involving Chinese
to the submarine. Frank Owen, secretary of the The military said more than curred during the dive, caus- vessels near the Natuna is-
Submarine Institute of Aus- 20 navy ships, two subma- ing the submarine to lose lands.
"Hopefully we can rescue tralia, also said the submarine rines and five aircraft were control and become unable
them before the oxygen has could be at too great a depth searching the area where the to undertake emergency pro- Last year, President Wido-
run out" at 3 a.m. on Satur- for a rescue team to operate. submarine was last detected. cedures that would have al- do reaffirmed the country's
day, Indonesia's navy chief of A hydro-oceanographic sur- lowed it to resurface. It was sovereignty during a visit to
staff, Adm. Yudo Margono, Indonesian President Joko vey ship equipped with un- rehearsing for a missile-firing the islands at the edge of the
told reporters. Widodo asked all of the coun- derwater detection capabili- exercise on Thursday, which South China Sea, one of the
try's people to pray that the ties also was on its way to the was eventually canceled. busiest sea lanes where Chi-
He said rescuers found an submarine and crew could be site around the oil spills. na is embroiled in territo-
unidentified object with high found. The German-built subma- rial disputes with its smaller
magnetism at a depth of 50 to Margono said the oil slick rine, which has been in ser- neighbors.

Pope meets with Lebanon's PM-designate, urges end of crises

VATICAN CITY (AP) — form a government. Among deep disagreements between ing the meeting with Hariri,
Pope Francis met with the countries he recently him and President Michel According to Lebanon's pow- Francis expressed his solidar-
Lebanese Prime Minister- visited were France, Turkey, Aoun. er-sharing system, the presi- ity with the Lebanese people
designate Saad Hariri on Egypt and the United Arab dent has to be a Maronite and who are "living in great dif-
Thursday and urged all Emirates. He was also meet- One of the main points of the parliament speaker a Shi- ficulty and uncertainty, and
Lebanese political leaders ing Thursday with Italian of- difference includes Aoun's ite Muslim, while the prime recalled the responsibility of
to "urgently commit them- ficials. rejection of Hariri's plan to minister has to be a Sunni. all political forces to urgently
selves to the benefit of the choose some Christian mem- Parliament and Cabinet seats commit themselves to the
nation," as the country en- Hariri has not been able to bers of the new government. are equally split between benefit of the nation."
dures a series of crises and form a Cabinet six months Aoun is a Maronite Catholic, Muslims and Christians.
disagreements that have after he was chosen for the while Hariri is Sunni Mus- Francis is hoping that Leba-
prevented the formation prime minister's post amid lim. The Vatican said that dur- non can once again embody
of a government. "the fortress of the cedars, the
diversity that from weakness
Francis also reaffirmed dur- becomes strength in the great
ing the 30-minute audience reconciled people," the state-
his desire to visit Lebanon ment said.
as soon as conditions per-
mit, according to a statement Hariri said he asked the Vati-
from the Vatican spokesman. can "to be concerned about
Lebanon and to intervene
Hariri's visit to the Vatican where they can be effective
comes as Lebanon is expe- because this is what concerns
riencing its worst economic Lebanon and the Lebanese."
and financial crisis in its He said: "We are in a very bad
modern history following situation, but once we form a
decades of widespread cor- government we can stop the
ruption. Since late 2019, the collapse."
local currency has lost 90% of
its value, and more than half The Vatican didn't list the
of the country's population meeting on Francis' official
now lives in poverty, accord- agenda given that Hariri isn't
ing to the World Bank. yet in office; it was described
by the Vatican as a private au-
Hariri has been touring the dience, not an official state
Middle East and Europe to visit that carries with it spe-
win support for his efforts to cific protocol.