JAKARTA, April 25 — The Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) submarine rescue ship MV Mega Bakti arrived in Bali waters today, to participate in the search operation for the Indonesian Navy’s (TNI) submarine that had been missing since last Wednesday.

RMN attaché in Indonesia, Commander Nor Izam Baharudin, who is currently in Bali and acting as the mission coordinator with the TNI, said MV Mega Bakti arrived at 11am today (Western Indonesia Time) and the ship’s crew was briefed by the TNI before starting the search operation.

The MV Mega Bakti search operation is headed by Commander Mohd Hairul Fahmy Yob with 54 crew comprising 10 officers and medical personnel of the Malaysian Armed Forces and 44 MV Mega Bakti crew.

"The MV Mega Bakti ship is currently (at 12 noon today) at the search location in Bali waters, had been briefed by the TNI, and the TNI will determine their search sector or area,” he said when contacted by Bernama.

The rescue ship arrived an hour ahead of schedule, after setting off from the Submarine Command Headquarters operations jetty in Teluk Sepanggar, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah on April 22.

Yesterday, TNI Commander Hadi Tjahjanto said the status of the missing submarine had been changed from ‘submissed’ to ‘subsunk’.

Debris and items believed to be components of the submarine such as torpedo tubes straightener, cooling pipe, orange bottle, praying mats, periscope grease/lubricant as well as traces of oil spill were found in Bali waters.

KRI Nanggala 402 was reported to have lost contact at 4.25am on Wednesday during a torpedo training exercise, which also involved 21 other TNI ships, five fighter jets and another submarine. — Bernama