Families of missing submarine crew ‘have been told they’re dead’
THE families of those on board a missing submarine have allegedly been told their loved ones are dead.
Angry scenes broke out yesterday after the Argentine navy said there may have been an explosion three hours after the ARA San Juan went missing last week.
Officially, the navy is refusing to speculate on the fate of the craft’s 44 crew members as the search continues.
However Itati Leguizamon – whose husband German Suarez is among the missing – said families were yesterday told their loved ones were likely to have died.
Luis Tagliapietro, father of another crewmate, also said he had been told ‘they are all dead’.
The navy said an ‘ abnormal, violent, non-nuclear event’ had been detected in the South Atlantic shortly after ARA San Juan went missing last Wednesday. Analysis from the US and Austria revealed a ‘hydroacoustic anomaly’ after the craft had reported a fault with its batteries.
The revelation of the apparent explosion led to cries of anger from waiting relatives. Speaking outside the Mar del Plata naval base, Miss Leguizamon said she felt ‘deceived’ by officials. She alleged they had ‘lied to us’.
Some relatives became ‘aggressive’ when they were informed, Miss Leguizamon said, and were ‘ breaking things’. Other relatives said they felt like they were waiting for ‘corpses’ to return.
Search vessels were yesterday combing an area within an 80-mile radius of the submarine’s last known position in the South Atlantic. There are fears the oxygen supply could be running out.
Captain Enrique Balbi, a spokesman for the Argentine navy, said the search would continue until there was full certainty about the submarine’s fate.
Captain Balbi defended the delay in revealing the apparent explosion amid a barrage of questions. He insisted the report from the US had only been ‘officially’ received on Wednesday.