Underwater sound likely ‘explosion’

MAR DEL PLATA, ARGENTINA » An apparent explosion occurred near the time and place an Argentine submarine went missing, the country’s navy reported Thursday, prompting relatives of the vessel’s 44 crew members to burst into tears and some to say they had lost hope of a rescue.

Navy spokesman Enrique Balbi said the search will continue until there is full certainty about the fate of the ARA San Juan, despite the evidence of an explosion and with more than a week having passed since the submarine disappeared. It was originally scheduled to arrive today at Argentina’s Mar del Plata Navy Base.

The U.S. Navy and an international nuclear testban monitoring organization said a “hydro-acous- tic anomaly” was produced just hours after the navy lost contactwith the sub onNov. 15. It was near the submarine’s last known location.

“We don’t know what caused an explosion of these characteristics at this site on this date,” Balbi said.

The navy spokesman described the “anomaly” as “singular, short, violent and nonnuclear.”

Relatives of the crew who had gathered at the Mar del Plata base to receive psychological counseling broke into tears and hugged each other after they received the news. Some fell on their knees or clung to a fence crowded with blue-and-white Argentine flags, rosary beads and messages of support.

Balbi defended the Argentine Navy, saying that “with respect to the maintenance and state of our naval and air units, no unit ever leaves port or takes off if it isn’t in operating conditions tonav- igate or fly with total security.”

The German-built dieselelectric TR-1700 class submarine was commissioned in 1985 and was most recently refitted in 2014.

During the $ 12 million retrofitting, the vessel was cut in half and had its engines and batteries replaced. Experts say that refits can be difficult because they involve integrating systems produced by different manufacturers and even the smallestmistake during the cutting phase of the operationcanput the safety of the ship and the crew at risk.

The Argentine navy and outside experts have said that even if the ARA San Juan is intact, its crew might have only enough oxygen to be submerged seven to 10 days. It lost contact as it was sailing from the extreme southern port of Ushuaia. The sub’s captain had reported a battery failure.