Argentine navy investigates new leads in search for submarine

BUENOS AIRES: Three objects have been spotted as search teams continue to scrounge the ocean floor for the missing Argentine submarine that disappeared with its crew in November.

The Argentine Navy announced on Twitter they had detected three signals and would be investigating them soon.

Russia’s remote control underwater craft ‘Panther Plus’ was one of the first, catching a signal at 814 metres depth, while two other objects appeared at 500 and 700-metre depths.

A report from the Ministry of Defence said that investigations into the three mysterious finds were temporarily delayed due to high winds, but will be resumed as weather conditions improve.

Currently, winds of 28 to 33 knots are expected with waves of three metres high, which could decrease to 2.5 metres on Tuesday.

Two Oceanographic research vessel, Russia’s Yantar and the United States’ Atlantis, join forces with the three Argentine crafts in search of the missing crew.

The submarine ARA San Juan disappeared Nov 15 with its crew on board, in the waters of the Argentine Sea and 200km off the coast of Chubut, when sailing to Mar Del Plata from Ushuaia.

Families of the missing crew members have criticised Macri’s government for not communicating with them and for abandoning rescue efforts.

The Navy said on Nov 27 that water that entered the submarine’s snorkel caused its battery to shortcircuit before the vessel vanished from radar.

The Navy ruled out finding the crew alive and concentrated its efforts on rescuing the ship.

The search for survivors was officially abandoned on Nov 30, when the focus was switched to recovering the wreckage.

By that time, the search had continued double the amount of time the submarine would have had oxygen. — Bernama