The sinking of an Indonesian submarine remains a mystery one year on

A group of young people built an almost 8m-long and 3m-high replica of the submarine KRI Nanggala 402 using wooden sticks and lights, in memory of the Indonesian submarine disaster. The art project is dedicated to the 53 sailors who died when the naval submarine sank. Photo: Ihsan/dpa

A year after a submarine belonging to the Indonesian Navy sank off the resort island of Bali with 53 sailors on board, the cause of the accident remains a mystery.

Indonesian authorities ended an international effort to salvage the KRI Nanggala 402 submarine a month after it sank on April 21 last year, saying that the difficulty and risk involved in bringing the broken vessel to the surface were too great.