A survey ship of Belgium-based company Jan De Nul working in the Rabnabad channel drowned near Payra port in Patuakhali on Monday. However, 10 Indonesian and two Bangladeshi crew members onboard the ship named Express-54 were immediately rescued by a fishing boat and later they reached the port by a tugboat of the company. The ship drowned seven nautical miles off the fare buoy of the port on Monday morning. Also read: Trawler sinks in Bay: 13 Bhola fishermen go missing Captain ASM Sharifur Rahman, harbor master of the port, said water started gushing through a hole beside the ship's machine room when it was out for survey work for dredging. The crews immediately sought help from a nearby fishing boat and had been safely rescued, he said. He said the process is on to pull out the drowned ship from the water. Also read: 13 stranded fishermen rescued from Bay The rescued are- master Arham Abdul Rahim, chief officer Mochamad Rizal, second officer Darmawan, chief engineer Muhammad Nur, second engineer Trai Yanto, oiler Rahmat Fadilla, AB Audi Cristian, AB Rudi Rahman, oiler Muhammad Agam Fayez Julfa, cook Jujua Anglebert, surveyor Saiduzzaman Imon, and MD Sohanuzzaman Sumon.

Southeast Asian leaders met Myanmar’s top general and coup leader in an emergency summit in Indonesia Saturday, and are expected to press calls for an end to violence by security forces that has left hundreds of protesters dead as well as the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other political detainees. There is little hope for an immediate breakthrough in the two-hour gathering in Jakarta between Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing and the six heads of state and three foreign ministers representing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. But his decision to face them offers a rare chance for the 10-nation bloc to directly deal with the general who ousted one of its leaders in a Feb. 1 coup. “The unfolding tragedy has serious consequences for Myanmar, ASEAN and the region,” Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said on the eve of the summit. One proposal, which has been discussed in preliminary meetings, is for Brunei Prime Minister Hassanal Bolkiah, the current ASEAN chair, to travel to Myanmar to meet the military leadership and Suu Kyi’s camp to encourage dialogue. He would be accompanied by ASEAN Secretary General Lim Jock Hoi — also from Brunei — if the junta agreed, a Southeast Asian diplomat told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media. Also read 17th China-ASEAN Expo opens in south China Another diplomat said humanitarian aid could be offered to Myanmar if conditions improved. The diplomat also spoke to AP on condition of anonymity for lack of authority to discuss such plans publicly. Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi of Indonesia expressed hopes that “we can reach an agreement on the next steps that can help the people of Myanmar get out of this delicate situation.” Following the coup, ASEAN, through Brunei, issued a statement that did not expectedly condemn the power grab but urged “the pursuance of dialogue, reconciliation and the return to normalcy in accordance with the will and interests of the people of Myanmar.” Amid Western pressure, however, the regional group has struggled to take a more forceful position on issues but has kept to its non-confrontational approach. All ASEAN states agreed to meet Min Aung Hlaing but would not address him as Myanmar’s head of state in the summit, the Southeast Asian diplomat said. Critics have said ASEAN’s decision to meet him was unacceptable and amounted to legitimizing the overthrow and the deadly crackdown that followed. Daily shootings by police and soldiers have killed more than 700 protesters and bystanders, according to several independent tallies. Amnesty International urged Indonesia and other ASEAN states to investigate Min Aung Hlaing over “credible allegations of responsibility for crimes against humanity in Myanmar.” As a state party to a U.N. convention against torture, Indonesia has a legal obligation to prosecute or extradite a suspected perpetrator on its territory, it said. “The Myanmar crisis trigged by the military presents ASEAN with the biggest test in its history,” said Emerlynne Gil of the London-based rights group. “This is not an internal matter for Myanmar but a major human rights and humanitarian crisis which is impacting the entire region and beyond.” Police dispersed dozens of protesters opposing the coup and the junta leader’s visit. More than 4,300 police have fanned out across the Indonesian capital to secure the meetings, held under strict safeguards amid the pandemic. Indonesia has reported the highest number of COVID-19 infections and deaths in Southeast Asia. Also read: ASEAN urged to engage Myanmar's National Unity Govt to end crisis, military rule The leaders of Thailand and the Philippines skipped the summit to deal with coronavirus outbreaks back home. Laos, which has the least number of infections in the region but this week imposed a lockdown, also canceled at the last minute. The face-to-face summit is the first by ASEAN leaders in more than a year. ASEAN’s diversity, including the divergent ties of many of its members to either China or the United States, along with a bedrock policy of non-interference in each other’s domestic affairs and deciding by consensus, has hobbled the bloc’s ability to rapidly deal with crises. Aside from Myanmar, the regional bloc groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Indonesian navy ships were scouring the waters off Bali on Friday as they raced against time to find a submarine that disappeared two days ago and has less than a day’s supply of oxygen left for its 53 crew. The KRI Nanggala 402 went missing after its last reported dive Wednesday off the resort island, and concern is mounting the submarine may have sunk too deep to reach or recover. The navy chief said the submarine was expected to run out of oxygen by around 3 a.m. Saturday. “We will maximize the effort today, until the time limit tomorrow 3 a.m.,” military spokesperson Maj. Gen. Achmad Riad told reporters. There have been no signs of life from the submarine, but the spokesperson refused to speculate on its fate. A total of 24 navy and other ships and a patrol plane were being mobilized for Friday’s search with a focus on the area where an oil slick was found after the submarine disappeared during an exercise. Rescuers made similar massive searches in the past two days. An Australian warship equipped with a sonar device and a helicopter was set to arrive later Friday. A second Australian warship as well as Singaporean and Malaysian rescue ships were also expected in the coming days. “These two Australian ships will help expand the search area and extend the duration of search effort,” Australian Navy Rear Adm. Mark Hammond said. On Friday, Indonesian President Joko Widodo was heading to Banyuwangi port, where the rescue ships left earlier. He asked Indonesians to pray for the crew’s safe return, while ordering all-out efforts to locate the stricken submarine. “Our main priority is the safety of 53 crew members,” Widodo said in a televised address on Thursday. “To the family of the crew members, I can understand your feelings and we are doing our best to save all crew members on board.” There’s been no conclusive evidence the oil slick was from the sub. Navy Chief of Staff Adm. Yudo Margono said oil could have spilled from a crack in the submarine’s fuel tank or the crew could have released fuel and fluids to reduce the vessel’s weight so it could surface. Margono said an unidentified object with high magnetism was located at a depth of 50 to 100 meters (165 to 330 feet) and officials held out hope it’s the submarine. The navy also said it believes the submarine sank to a depth of 600-700 meters (2,000-2,300 feet), much deeper than its collapse depth at which water pressure would be greater than the hull could withstand. The vessel’s collapse depth was estimated at 200 meters (655 feet) by a South Korean company that refitted the vessel in 2009-2012. The cause of the disappearance is still uncertain. The navy has said an electrical failure could have left the submarine unable to execute emergency procedures to resurface. Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said the United States is sending airborne assets to assist in the search. “We are deeply saddened by the news of Indonesia’s lost submarine, and our thoughts are with the Indonesian sailors and their families,” Kirby said. Other countries have also offered assistance. Submarine accidents are often disastrous. In 2000, the Russian nuclear submarine Kursk suffered internal explosions and sank during maneuvers in the Barents Sea. Most of its 118 crew died instantly, but 23 men fled to a rear compartment before they later died, mainly of suffocation. In November 2017, an Argentine submarine went missing with 44 crew members in the South Atlantic, almost a year before its wreckage was found at a depth of 800 meters (2,625 feet). But in 2005, seven men aboard a Russian mini-sub were rescued nearly three days after their vessel became snagged by fishing nets and cables in the Pacific Ocean. They had only six hours of oxygen left before reaching the surface. The German-built diesel-powered KRI Nanggala 402 has been in service in Indonesia since 1981 and was carrying 49 crew members and three gunners as well as its commander, the Indonesian Defense 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.

A footbridge on Indonesia's Sumatra island broke while it was packed with people and several fell into the overflowing river below and drowned, officials said Monday.