Stops search for missing Argentinian submarine crew

Disappeared: This is the missing submarine San Juan with 44 people on board. The Argentine Navy lost contact with the boat on Wednesday.PHOTO: ARMADA ARGENTINA

Stops the search for missing Argentinian submarine crew

The navy stops the search for the 44 people aboard the missing Argentinian submarine in the South Atlantic.

 

The Argentinian Navy informs this , according to the AFP news agency.

The submarine “San Juan”, with a crew of 44 on board, has now been missing for over two weeks, and the navy has given up hope of finding anybody alive.

– The rescue mission lasted for more than twice as long as there is hope to find survivors, says naval spokesman, Enrique Balbi, according to NTB.

Balbi further states that the search for the submarine will continue.

Fight against time

The latest signals from the submarine were on Wednesday, November 15. at the time the submarine was returning to the naval base after a routine mission to Mar el Plata, 400 kilometers south of Buenos Aires.

That was the starting point of an intense battle against the clock for the search teams.

The submarine crew supposedly have had enough oxygen to cope for six days under water, and as time has passed, the hope of finding anybody alive has gradually dimished.

Since the disappearance, seven distress signals have been sent from the submarine,  the country’s defense department reports. it has not been possible to determine exactly where the signals came from, nor to confirm that they actually came from the missing submarine.

De siste antatte nødsignalene fra ubåten ble registrert lørdag 18. november.

After the disappearance, a comprehensive search operation has been launched, both from air and sea, and several countries have participated in the search. Including the United States, the United Kingdom and Norway.

The Norwegian offshore vessel “Skandi Patagonia” was part of the search for the submarine.

Unknown cause

What is the cause of the disappearance is not yet known, but the Argentinian Navy has previously announced that an explosion occurred in the area where the submarine was reported missing.

The submarine allegedly also notified of mechanical problems and was therefore redirected towards a naval base. It did not send out distress signals at that time.

According to AFP, there are reports indicating that the vessel was in distress before the submarine disappeared without a trace in the South Atlantic.

Among the 44 people on board is Argentina’s first female submarine officer, 35-year-old Eliana María Krawczyk.

Outside the naval base, relatives have hung up support statements and greetings to those who are missing. Several of the relatives have also questioned the rescue effort, which they believe was initiaded to late.

Among other things, bad weather created problems for rescue operation at the start of the search.

The submarine, type TR-1700, is one of a total of three in the Argentinian Navy. It is 65 meters long and seven meters wide and was built in Germany in 1983. It has been through several upgrades and adaptations, the latest in 2014.

 

©  VG / Norway Today