A sign of hope from a vanished sub
Argentina’s navy could not confirm Sunday if seven brief satellite calls received a day prior were from a lost submarine with 44 crew members on board.
Navy spokesperson Enrique Balbi said the low-frequency satellite signals received Saturday lasted a “few seconds,” but had not connected with a base, partly due to inclement weather. The communication attempts were originally thought to indicate that the crew was trying to re-establish contact.
On Sunday, search units were largely relying on information gathered from a British polar exploration vessel, the HMS Protector, which was equipped with an underwater search probe and was following the path taken by the submarine, the ARA San Juan.
“Our thoughts remain with the crew of the ARA San Juan and their families at this time,” said HMS Protector Cmdr. Angus Essenhigh, according to a statement from Britain’s Royal Navy.
The gesture has attracted attention since the nations fought a bloody war in 1982 after Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands.
Gonzalez also confirmed the U.S. navy’s Undersea Rescue Command had been deployed to the search area, along with aircraft from Argentina, Brazil and the U.S., and 11 surface vessels.
Among the 44 crew members is Eliana Krawczyk, the first female submarine officer in Argentina.
Authorities said the submarine left the extreme southern port of Ushuaia on Wednesday and lost contact as it was heading to Mar del Plata, a city on the country’s northeastern coast.
Argentine authorities received a few blips of hope in their effort to find a three-decade old submarine — and 44 crewmen — that suddenly stopped communicating during a routine mission on Wednesday.
That hope came in the form of seven signals to a satellite, which defence officials believe may have been attempts to communicate. Contact wasn’t made and nothing was transmitted, but the signals, if from the sub, are the first signs of life from the ARA San Juan.
“We received seven satellite calls that likely came from the submarine San Juan. We are working hard to locate it,” Argentina’s Defence Minister Oscar Aguad tweeted. “To the families of the 44 crew members: We hope you’ll have them home soon.”
The calls came into different bases on Saturday between 10:52 a.m. and 3:42 p.m., according to CNN. The shortest was four seconds; the longest 36.
It was unclear Sunday whether authorities could use the signal attempts to determine the sub’s location. A U.S. company that specializes in satellite communication is trying to help the Argentines pinpoint the location of the vanished sub.
“We do not have clear evidence that (the calls) have come from that unit,” said Adm. Gabriel Gonzalez, chief of the Mar del Plata Naval Base, on Sunday. “We are analyzing more closely to reliably determine that they were not calls coming from the submarine.”
Gonzalez said the navy has intensified its aerial search off the country’s southern Atlantic Coast after strong winds spurred waves up to eight metres battering search-and-rescue vessels.
The communications company is another addition to a growing international search mission combing the waters of the Atlantic and listening to all frequencies for signs of the sub.
The diesel-electric ARA San Juan was returning to its base south of Buenos Aires after a routine mission to Ushuaia, near the southern tip of South America on Wednesday. Then, suddenly, it went silent.