Video shows toddler begging his father not leave before he boarded doomed KRI Nanggala-402 submarine

A heartbreaking video has emerged showing a toddler begging his father to stay at home before he left to board the doomed Indonesian military submarine which sank, killing all 53 sailors on the vessel. 

In the clip, First Lieutenant Imam Adi, 29, is blocked from leaving his room by his crying two-year-old son Aska who tries to shut the bedroom door with one hand while pushing his father back inside with the other.  

Adi can be seen laughing and saying ‘Papa needs to pee’ before kneeling down to try to comfort his son – but Aska repeatedly pushed his father while screaming ‘no, no, no’. 

This would have been the last time the father and son were together. Later that day, Adi boarded the KRI Nanggala-402 which sank to the seabed and split into three pieces off Bali with all those on board killed.  

Adi’s father Edy Sujianto said he was surprised by his grandson’s behaviour because Aska would usually not try to stop his father from leaving before going on duty. 

‘Usually, when [Adi] says goodbye, it’s normal,’ Sujianto told The Tribune News from his home on Java Island. ‘Yesterday until the door was closed, his father really couldn’t go.’  

But Sujianto said he did not want to be superstitious or want to think about how his grandson had tried to stop his father from leaving for the fateful vessel. ‘Maybe it’s just a coincidence,’ he said.  

Sujianto revealed that before boarding the ship, Adi had asked his family to pray that his mission on the submarine was smooth and safe.

‘Every time he want to work, [Adi] always gave news, be it via text message or telephone,’ the heartbroken father said. But no news came until the vessel was found at the bottom of the seabed off Bali. 

Adi’s wife filmed the exchange between father and son and it was later posted to Instagram before going viral. The clip was even reportedly viewed by Tri Rismaharini, the Indonesian Minister of Social Affairs.

Adi had served on the KRI Nanggala 402 since 2017 and had previously studied law in Korea and Los Angeles in the US. 

The video comes as more parts from the submarine were retrieved including an anchor and fluorescent orange safety suits for emergencies, authorities said. 

A day before the discovery, the navy first confirmed the retrieval of fragments from the submarine and declared that it had sunk, effectively ending any chance of finding survivors.

In another haunting video, released by Indonesian military chiefs, the crew of the KRI Nanggala 402 were seen singing together on board just weeks before the craft sank. 

In the clip, some of the 53 sailors on the vessel can be seen smiling as they huddled around a man playing on his guitar for a rendition of the popular Indonesian hit ‘Sampai Jumpa’ that translates as ‘goodbye’ or ‘until we meet again’.

Among the earlier items recovered from the submarine were a piece of the torpedo system and a bottle of grease used to lubricate periscopes.

They also found a prayer mat commonly used in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation.

Warships, planes and hundreds of military personnel had led a frantic search for the submarine since it disappeared this week during training exercises, hoping for a miracle rescue before its known oxygen reserves ran out.

But on Sunday, Indonesian military head Hadi Tjahjanto said there was no chance of finding any of the crew alive.

He said: ‘With deep sadness, I can say that all 53 personnel onboard have passed.

‘We received underwater pictures that are confirmed as the parts of the submarine, including its rear vertical rudder, anchors, outer pressure body, embossed dive rudder and other ship parts.

‘With this authentic evidence, we can declare that KRI Nanggala 402 has sunk and all the crew members are dead.’ 

Prabowo Subianto, the Indonesian Minister of Defence, has guaranteed college scholarships to all of the children who lost their fathers on the ill-fated submarine. 

The navy previously said it believes the submarine sank to a depth of 2,000-2,300ft, much deeper than its collapse depth of 655ft, at which point water pressure would be greater than the hull could withstand.

An underwater robot equipped with cameras and deployed by Singaporean vessel MV Swift Rescue provided the images, while the Indonesian vessel KRI Rigel had scanned the area where the submarine was believed to have sunk using multibeam sonar and a magnetometer, Tjahjanto said. 

The cause of the disappearance was still uncertain.

The navy had previously said an electrical failure could have left the submarine unable to execute emergency procedures to resurface.

An American reconnaissance plane, a P-8 Poseidon, landed early on Saturday and had been set to join the search, along with 20 Indonesian ships, a sonar-equipped Australian warship and four Indonesian aircraft.

The German-built diesel-powered KRI Nanggala 402 had been in service in Indonesia since 1981 and was carrying 49 crew members and three gunners as well as its commander, the Indonesian Defence Ministry said.

Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelago nation with more than 17,000 islands, has faced growing challenges to its maritime claims in recent years, including numerous incidents involving Chinese vessels near the Natuna islands. 

First Lieutenant Adi’s family had clung to hope earlier Sunday. ‘My wish now is that my son and all the crew can be found,’ Adi’s father said. ‘My son had wanted to become a soldier since he was a child. That was his dream.’

President Joko Widodo described the sailors as Indonesia’s ‘best patriots’.

‘All Indonesians convey their deep sadness over this incident, especially to the families of the submarine crew,’ he said.

Authorities have not given an explanation for the accident, but said that the submarine may have suffered a blackout that left its crew unable to resurface.

They discounted an explosion, however, saying Saturday that the evidence suggested the submarine came apart as it was crushed by massive water pressure in the vast depths.

‘Submarine hulls are pressurised… but when they’re breached then water would come flooding inside,’ said Wisnu Wardhana, a maritime expert at Indonesia’s Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology.

‘Can you imagine if water with that kind of pressure hits people?’

Retired French vice-admiral Jean-Louis Vichot earlier told AFP that a submarine’s hull could collapse ‘like a folding accordion’ if it hits depths way beyond its limits. 

Any salvage operation would be risky and difficult, navy chief Margono said.

‘We’ll discuss it to make a decision on how to lift the submarine in this condition,’ he said Sunday.

‘I want to lift it, but how do we bring it up from (these depths)?’

Neighbouring Malaysia, as well as the United States, India and Australia, were among the nations helping in the hunt.

Search vessels, reconnaissance aircraft and submarine rescue ships had been deployed to scour a zone of about 10 square nautical miles (34 square kilometres).

The submarine – one of five in Indonesia’s fleet – disappeared early Wednesday while it was scheduled to do live torpedo training exercises off Bali.

The crew asked for permission to dive. It lost contact shortly after.

Later, search teams spotted an oil spill where the vessel was thought to have submerged, pointing to possible fuel-tank damage, and a catastrophic accident.

The submarine – delivered to Indonesia in 1981 – was seaworthy, the military said.

The model has been used by more than a dozen navies around the world.

But investigators would look at the Indonesian submarine’s age as a potential factor, analysts have said. 

Prime Minister Scott Morrison contacted Indonesian President Joko Widodo after the vessel was found in three pieces at the bottom of the Bali sea, hundreds of metres beyond its diving range. 

‘Deepest sympathies to President Jokiwi and all our Indonesian friends on the loss of KRI Nanggala,’ Mr Morrison said on Sunday night.

 ‘A tragic reminder of the ultimate sacrifice our service people make for their country. It was an honour to contribute to search efforts. Australia stands by you in your time of loss.’ 

Australia took part in an international search for the vessel, which involved dozens of helicopters and ships equipped with sonar systems.

The search for the missing Indonesian submarine ended as navy crew members located the vessel and confirmed all 53 people on board have perished.