Argentina submarine imploded in Atlantic with 44 crew (Reports).
AN Argentina submarine that sunk with 44 crew on board last year “imploded”, it was revealed hours after its wreckage was discovered.
The ARA San Juan has been located 800 metres below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean after disappearing 270 miles off the Argentine coast on November 15, 2017. This week, relatives of the lost crew held a commemoration service for the dead seamen just two days before the sub was found. A rescue mission to locate the ARA San Juan was abandoned after two weeks last year.
The Argentine navy tweeted a photo yesterday showing a 60-metre-long object believed to be the submarine.
Another tweet confirmed that US company Ocean Infinity, which was leading the search mission, had located the vessel.
Mini-submarines were dispatched to the seabed to take photographic evidence of the wreckage.
The ARA San Juan sunk after returning from a mission near the most southern tip of the South Amerian continent.
A noise detected a few hours after the submarine disappeared is believed to have been the sound of the vessel imploding, the Argentine navy claimed.
“It appears to be complete, but it obviously imploded,” Gabriel Attis, head of the Mar del Plata naval base, is reported to have said.
Navy spokesman Enrique Balbi said water had poured in through the sub’s snorkel.
Saltwater is then believed to have short circuited a batter tray.
The sub’s crew reported the fault and were ordered to return back to base, but then disappeared.
No distress call was issued, with 18 countries involved in the search mission launched on November 16 last year.
A Royal Navy team of experts joined the mission, along with thousands of troops from the US, France, Germany, Brazil, Chile. Peru, Columbia and Uruguay.
Initial reports suggested that sounds detected were the crew banging on the sub’s hull.
Argentine police investigating the sub’s disappearance raided naval bases in January.
Naval top brass are being investigated for allegedly sending the sub on an extended mission despite warnings of mechanical problems.
The ship was involved in a military exercise when it sank, with only seven days of oxygen on board.
Four relatives from the bereaved families were on board the Ocean Infinity vessel when it located the stricken submarine.
