Foul weather hampering search for missing sub

An i ncreasingly desperate search to find a missing Argentine submarine with 44 people aboard was being hampered by stormy seas and high winds Monday.

The submarine San Juan, which went missing in the South Atlantic six days ago, reported technical problems and had been ordered to port before vanishing.

The Argentine navy also quashed hopes that a series of brief satellite calls detected over the weekend could have been emergency calls from the vessel.

A fleet of international vessels and patrol planes have been braving seven metre waves and high winds in the search area off the Patagonia coast.

“These are less than favourable conditions that do make things difficult,” said Cmdr. Erik Reynolds, a U. S. navy spokesman. “You’re talking about 44 sailors out there. If they’re in trouble, there’s a finite amount of time to get to them, so I think there is a great deal of concern by the international community.”

He said vessels were using sonar to hunt for the ship, though the high waves were hampering efforts. Maritime patrol planes were searching for signs of oil that could have been jettisoned by the crew to signal their location.

U. S. navy submarine rescue chambers have also been flown to the region in the hope of bringing the crew to the surface in case the vessel can be found. The vessels can attach to the hatch of a stricken submarine at depths of up to 700 metres and then ferry surviving crew back to the surface.

Although the crew has enough food, oxygen and fuel to survive about 90 days on the surface, they only have enough oxygen to last for seven days if submerged. After that, the boat would have to surface or get near the surface to replenish air supply.

“There is no good news,” Juan Carlos Mendoza, father of Fernando Mendoza, a crew member. “Hopefully they have oxygen.”

Gabriel Galeazzi, a spokesman for the Argentine Navy, said the diesel-electric vessel had surfaced on Wednesday to report a battery fault. He said, “At that moment the commander was ordered to go directly to Mar del Plata. After that we lost contact.”

He suggested the fault could have affected the submarine’s navigation, but said it did have backup systems.

Carlos Mendoza, t he brother of Fernando Mendoza, said, “We can make up a thousand movies with happy and sad endings, but the reality is that the days pass by, and not knowing anything kills you.

“Every minute is oxygen that’s worth gold.”

EVERY MINUTE IS OXYGEN THAT’S WORTH GOLD.