Indonesian President Joko Widodo said on Sunday he had been informed by the navy that a sunken submarine had been found in the Bali Sea and sent his condolences to the families of the 53 crew members.

"The army and navy have changed the status of the KRI Nanggala 402 submarine from having lost contact to being 'sub-sunk' or drowned," he said.

Indonesia had formally said Saturday that the submarine had sunk.

Searchers have recovered debris from the submarine, including components and items from inside the stricken vessel. 

"Over the past few days, we've recovered debris and items from the last location that the submarine was diving," Navy chief Yudo Margono told a press conference. 

A scan had detected the submarine at the depth of 850 meters (2,788 feet), Margono said. It is well beyond the survivable limits of the submarine, which was designed to withstand a depth of up to 500 meters (1,640 feet).

The German-made KRI Nanggala-402 submarine was reportedly conducting a torpedo drill in waters north of the resort island of Bali when losing contact early Wednesday. The crew included a commander and three arsenal specialists.

It lost contact after requesting diving permission to fire a surface and underwater target (SUT) torpedo at 3:00 a.m. local time.

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Indonesia deploys warship to search for missing submarine

(Cover: An Indonesian Navy ship is seen at the naval base in Banyuwangi, East Java Province, on April 24, 2021, as the military continued search operations off the coast of Bali for the KRI Nanggala-402 submarine that went missing April 21 during a training exercise. /CFP )