Satellite signals give hope for missing sub
MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina/ BUENOS AIRES: Failed satellite calls that probably came from an Argentine navy submarine missing in the South Atlantic raised hopes that its 44 crew members are alive, but stormy conditions on Sunday complicated the search.
Boats searching for the Germanbuilt ARA San Juan on the ocean surface struggled against waves of up to 6 metres, navy spokesman Enrique Balbi said. The submarine was 432 km off Argentina’s southern Atlantic coast when it sent its last communication early on Wednesday.
“Luckily we have been able to continue with the air search,” Balbi told reporters on Sunday. “Unfortunately, we have not yet had contact with the San Juan submarine, and we will keep working.”
More than a dozen boats and aircraft from Argentina, the United States, Britain, Chile and Brazil had joined the effort.
The submarine probably tried to make seven satellite calls on Saturday between late morning and early afternoon, the Argentine defence ministry said.
“Yesterday’s news was something of a respite for us, to know that there is life,” Claudio Rodriguez, the brother of a crew member, said on television channel A24 on Sunday morning.
Stormy weather probably interfered with the calls, and the government was working with an unidentified US company specialised in satellite communication to trace the location.
“We are checking and confirming that information, and we are trying to squeeze out any information that may result in something concrete to detect the location,” Balbi said.
A search of 80 per cent of the area initially targeted for the operation turned up no sign of the vessel on the ocean surface, he said, but the crew should have ample supplies of food and oxygen.
The navy said an electrical outage on the diesel-electricpropelled vessel might have downed its communications. Protocol calls for submarines to surface if communication is lost.
The US Navy said early on Sunday morning that it would send an aircraft with 21 personnel from Jacksonville, Florida, to assist with the search. It had previously said it would deploy a deepsea mission with a remotely operated vehicle and two vessels capable of rescuing people from submarines.
Crew members’ relatives gathered at a naval base in the coastal city of Mar del Plata, where the submarine had been expected to arrive around noon on Sunday from Ushuaia. LONDON: Britain will submit proposals on how to settle its divorce bill with the European Union before an EU summit next month and is expected to negotiate hard, Finance Minister Philip Hammond said on Sunday. The EU told Prime Minister Theresa May on Friday that there was more work to be done to unlock the Brexit talks, repeating its early December deadline for her to flesh out Britain’s opening offer on the financial settlement.
“We will make our proposals to the European Union in time for the Council,” Hammond told the BBC, referring to the December 14-15 meeting of EU heads of government.
He was speaking three days before he sets out Britain’s budget plan, where he will have to find room within tight fiscal constraints to help May convince voters that the Conservative government is tackling Britain’s domestic problems at the same time as negotiating its exit from the EU.
Last week, May met fellow EU leaders to try to break a deadlock over how much Britain will pay on leaving the bloc, an issue threatening to derail British hopes for a negotiated exit and an agreement on a new trading relationship by March 2019.
May has signalled she would increase an initial offer that is estimated at some 20 billion euros ($24 billion) — about a third of what Brussels wants.
But Hammond, who has been criticised by supporters of Brexit for being too conciliatory towards Brussels and lobbying for a “softer” exit, said Britain would take a tough stance about how much it owes.
“There are some things that we’re very clear we do owe under the treaties, other things where we dispute the amounts or even whether something should be included,” Hammond said in a separate interview with ITV television. “Of course we’ll negotiate hard to get the very best deal for the British taxpayer.”
Asked about the prospect of Brexit without a trade deal, Hammond said he was “increasingly confident” that an agreement could be reached because it was in the interests of both parties.
May and her chief negotiator David Davis have been clear they want to have a full post-Brexit free trade deal sealed by the time Britain leaves.