Page 30 - Bon-dia-aruba-20210424

A30 world news
Diasabra 24 aPriL 2021

Frantic search for missing Indonesian sub as air dwindles

two days. Staff Adm. Yudo Margono during maneuvers in the Bar-
said oil could have spilled ents Sea. Most of its 118 crew
An American reconnaissance from a crack in the subma- died instantly, but 23 men
plane was expected to join the rine’s fuel tank or the crew fled to a rear compartment
search Saturday and a second could have released fuel and before they later died, mainly
Australian ship was due soon. fluids to reduce the vessel’s of suffocation. In November
weight so it could surface. 2017, an Argentine subma-
“These two Australian ships Margono said an unidentified rine went missing with 44
will help expand the search object exhibiting high mag- crew members in the South
area and extend the duration netism was located at a depth Atlantic, almost a year before
of the search effort,” Austra- of 50 to 100 meters (165 to its wreckage was found at a
lian Navy Rear Adm. Mark 330 feet) and officials held depth of 800 meters (2,625
Hammond said. out hope it is the submarine. feet).
Singaporean and Malaysian
rescue ships were also ex- The navy said it believes, But in 2005, seven men
(AP) — Indonesia's navy Achmad Riad told reporters. pected in the coming days. however, that the submarine aboard a Russian mini-sub
scoured the waters off sank to a depth of 600-700 were rescued nearly three
Bali on Friday, bolstered There have been no signs of Indonesian President Joko meters (2,000-2,300 feet), days after their vessel was
by the arrival of a sonar- life from the submarine, but Widodo canceled a visit to much deeper than its collapse snagged by fishing nets and
equipped Australian war- family members held out Banyuwangi port, where depth, at which water pres- cables in the Pacific Ocean.
ship with a helicopter, in hope that the massive search some rescue ships left ear- sure would be greater than They had only six hours of
an increasingly frantic effort would find the vessel lier, to prepare for a weekend the hull could withstand. oxygen left before reaching
search for a missing sub- in time. regional summit in Jakarta, The vessel’s collapse depth the surface.
marine with only hours officials said. He asked Indo- was estimated at 200 meters
left in its oxygen supply “The family is in a good con- nesians to pray for the crew’s (655 feet) by a South Korean The German-built diesel-
for its 53 crewmembers. dition and keeps praying," safe return, while ordering company that refitted the powered KRI Nanggala 402
said Ratih Wardhani, the sis- all-out efforts to locate the vessel in 2009-2012. has been in service in Indo-
The KRI Nanggala 402 went ter of 49-year-old crewman submarine. nesia since 1981 and was car-
missing after its last reported Wisnu Subiyantoro. “We are The cause of the disappear- rying 49 crew members and
dive Wednesday off the re- optimistic that the Nanggala “Our main priority is the ance is still uncertain. The three gunners as well as its
sort island, and concern is can be rescued with all the safety of the 53 crew mem- navy has said an electrical commander, the Indonesian
mounting it may have sunk crew.” bers,” Widodo said in a tele- failure could have left the Defense Ministry said.
too deep to reach or recover vised address on Thursday. submarine unable to execute
in time. The navy chief said Twenty-four Indonesian “To the family of the crew emergency procedures to re- Indonesia, the world’s larg-
the submarine was expected ships and a patrol plane were members, I can understand surface. est archipelago nation with
to run out of oxygen early mobilized for the search your feelings and we are do- more than 17,000 islands, has
Saturday morning. Friday, focusing on the area ing our best to save all crew Submarine accidents are of- faced growing challenges to
where an oil slick was found members on board.” ten disastrous. its maritime claims in recent
“We will maximize the effort after the submarine disap- years, including numerous
today, until the time limit peared during an exercise. There’s been no conclusive In 2000, the Russian nuclear incidents involving Chinese
tomorrow at 3 a.m.,” mili- Rescuers made similar mas- evidence the oil slick was submarine Kursk suffered vessels near the Natuna is-
tary spokesperson Maj. Gen. sive searches in the previous from the sub. Navy Chief of internal explosions and sank lands.

130 Europe-bound migrants feared dead off Libyan coast

(AP) — More than 100 at least ten bodies near the ten pack desperate families tion, leaving it solely in the tinued to search, but visibil-
Europe-bound migrants wreck. into ill-equipped rubber hands of the Libyan Coast ity was low and seas rough.
are feared dead in a ship- boats that stall and founder Guard. He said the vessel eventu-
wreck off Libya, indepen- “We think of the lives that along the perilous Central ally returned to port so that
dent rescue groups said, in have been lost and of the Mediterranean route. Libya Coast Guard Spokes- the other migrants onboard
the latest loss of life as at- families who might never man Commander Masoud could receive medical atten-
tempts to cross the Medi- have certainty as to what hap- “These are the human conse- Ibrahim Masoud described tion.
terranean increase during pened to their loved ones,” it quences of policies which fail allegations that they had been
the warmer months. said in a statement. to uphold international law negligent as untrue. In the meantime, he said Lib-
The migrant traffic has raised and the most basic of human- “We coordinated the search yan authorities asked three
Humanitarian organizations the question among Euro- itarian imperatives,” tweeted operation,” he told The Asso- merchant ships and Ocean
have accused the Libyan pean Union countries and Eugenio Ambrosi, Chief of ciated Press. “The ships kept Viking to look for the missing
coast guard and European Libya over who is responsible Staff for the International searching in the sea for more rubber boat, until the Libyan
authorities of failing to meet for saving those at sea. Organization for Migration. than 24 hours but the waves patrol vessel could join them
their responsibilities to save The European humanitar- Alarm Phone, a crisis hot- were very rough.” again.
lives. A Libyan coast guard ian organization said that line for migrants in distress
official told The Associated those missing will likely join in the Mediterranean, said Masoud told the AP that In recent years, the Euro-
Press that they searched for the 350 people who have that it had been in contact the Libyan coast guard had pean Union has partnered
the boat but could not find it drowned in the sea so far this with the boat in distress for received around noon on with Libya’s coast guard and
with their limited resources. year. It accused governments nearly ten hours before it Wednesday two rescue alerts other local groups to stem
SOS Mediterranee, which of failing to provide search capsized. Alarm Phone said from two different rubber such dangerous sea crossings.
operates the rescue ves- and rescue operations. in a statement that it had no- boats in distress to the east Rights groups, however, say
sel Ocean Viking, said late In the years since the 2011 tified European and Libyan of Tripoli. A patrol vessel those policies leave migrants
Thursday that the capsized NATO-backed uprising that authorities of the GPS posi- was immediately dispatched at the mercy of armed groups
rubber boat, which was ini- ousted and killed longtime tion of the boat but only non- and rescued 106 migrants, or confined in squalid deten-
tially carrying around 130 dictator Moammar Gadhafi, state rescue groups actively including women and chil- tion centers rife with abuses.
people, was spotted in the war-torn Libya has emerged searched for it. dren, who were aboard one “We are not as equipped as
Mediterranean Sea northeast as the dominant transit point of the two boats. Two bodies the US coast guard and the
of the Libyan capital, Tripoli. for migrants fleeing war and Alarm Phone accused Euro- were also pulled out of the support we get from the EU
The aid vessel did not find poverty in Africa and the pean authorities of refusing water near the capsized boat. does not meet our needs,”
any survivors, but could see Middle East. Smugglers of- to coordinate a search opera- He said the same vessel con- said Masoud.