ARGENTINE SUB NOT ON SECRET MISSION: NAVY

The Argentine submarine that went missing nine days ago while heading northward from the country’s southern tip was not on a secret mission and authorities have no reason to believe the vessel was attacked, the Navy has said.

“The submarine was sailing from Ushuaia to Mar del Plata on a direct route inside the exclusive economic zone, near the edge, exercising the monitoring of sovereignty as any other Navy unit does,” Captain Enrique Balbi said at naval headquarters in Buenos Aires on Friday.

Headquarters last heard from the ARA San Juan on the morning of November 15, when the sub was located in the San Jorge Gulf region some 432 kilometres east of the Argentine coast.

“It was not on a secret or special mission. There is no indication of any attack or anything similar,” the Navy spokesman said.

It was not on a secret or special mission. There is no indication of any attack or anything similar –Navy spokesman

In Mar del Plata, the sub’s home port, some 350 people, including friends and family of the San Juan’s 44-member crew, mounted a procession from the city’s Our Lady of Lourdes cathedral to the naval base to honour the missing sailors and pray for their safe return.

“The truth is that we are bad at this moment. At the beginning we had hope ... but we still have hope!,” one of the participants said.