No sign of life, but search for sub continues
Argentina’s president said Friday that an international search will continue for a submarine carrying 44 crew members that has been lost in the South Atlantic for nine days and that the sub’s disappearance will be investigated.
The Argentine navy says an explosion occurred near the time and place where the submarine went missing on Nov. 15 as it was sailing from the extreme southern port of Ushuaia to the coastal city of Mar del Plata. That’s led some family members of the crew to give up hope of a rescue. Navy officials and outside experts also worry that even if the sub is intact but submerged, its crew may be running out of oxygen.
“The disappearance and current search of the ARA San Juan submarine has touched all Argentines. It’s a difficult moment for all, but obviously, especially for the families of the 44 crew members,” President Mauricio Macri said in his first public comments about the missing sub at the navy’s headquarters in Buenos Aires.
“I’m here to guarantee you that we will carry on with the search, especially now that we have the support of all the international community.”
More than a dozen airplanes and ships have been participating in the multinational search across an area of some 480,000 square kilometres, which is roughly the size of Spain.
The Argentine navy said Friday that Russia is sending an Antonov transport aircraft and a ship in the southern Patagonian port of Comodoro Rivadavia is being adapted to carry a U.S. Navy submarine rescue chamber. The ARA San Juan was commissioned in 1985 and was most recently refitted in 2014. The sub was originally scheduled to arrive Monday to a navy base in Mar del Plata. Some relatives of the crew who have gathered at the base. “Hope is the last thing you lose. I’m waiting for a surprise, but I’m not really counting on it,” Luis Tagliapietra, f ather of 27-year-old crew member told The Associated Press.