KUALA LUMPUR, April 26 — Senior Defence Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob and everyone at the ministry have expressed their condolences to Indonesian President Joko Widodo as well as the people of Indonesia over the KRI Nanggala 402 submarine tragedy.

Ismail Sabri said Malaysia was also saddened and shared their grief over the tragedy, which claimed the lives of 53 crew members.

"The 53 crew members who lost their lives are truly the nation’s heroes and patriots for protecting the sovereignty of Indonesia.

"May Allah SWT give protection and patience in facing this test. We pray that their souls would be blessed and placed among the righteous and pious,” he said in a statement today.

The KRI Nanggala 402 was reported to have lost contact at 4.25am on Wednesday during a torpedo training exercise off Bali, which also involved 21 Indonesian Navy (TNI) ships, five fighter jets and another submarine.

Malaysia also deployed a submarine rescue ship MV Mega Bakti, which arrived in the Bali waters on April 25 to assist in searching for the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) submarine.

Yesterday, TNI Commander Hadi Tjahjanto announced that all crew members on board KRI Nanggala 402 were dead and that, based on visuals from the remotely operated underwater vehicle used in the search, the sub was found to have broken into three parts at a depth of 838 metres on the seabed in the waters off Bali. — Bernama