'Explosion' detected near route of missing Argentinian submarine, navy confirms

Sound described as ‘abnormal, singular, short, violent’ heard on day that contact was lost with ARA San Juan and its 44 crew

An abnormal sound detected in the South Atlantic Ocean hours after an Argentinian navy submarine sent its last signal last week was “consistent with an explosion”, a navy spokesman has said.

Capt Enrique Balbi described the blast as “abnormal, singular, short, violent” and “non-nuclear”. It was detected at 10.31am on 15 November along the route that the ARA San Juan had been following when it last made radio contact three hours earlier.

The sound has been pinpointed to within a radius of 78 miles (125km). Six vessels are attempting to locate the submarine, in an area that has already been searched.

The explosion was picked up by US sensors and by international agencies responsible for the detection of nuclear explosions around the world, Balbi said. Two Nasa planes were continuing to fly over the area in search of the submarine.

The explosion was detected in an area where Argentina’s continental shelf drops off abruptly from a depth of 200 metres to anything up to 5,000 metres, naval expert Horacio Tobías told the TN news network.

This means that the ARA San Juan would be difficult to find if it sank beyond the continental shelf. The existence of other sunken ships in that area of the sea floor could also increase the difficulty of identifying remains of the submarine.

With the seven-day limit on the ARA San Juan’s oxygen reserves having been reached on Wednesday morning, what hopes that remained were pinned on the submarine having been able to replenish its oxygen supply by surfacing at some point during the past week.

Relatives of the crew gathered at the Mar del Plata navy base reacted with anger when officers informed them of the latest report.

“They didn’t say they’re dead, but that’s what seems logical,” said Itatí Leguizamón, the wife of Germán Suárez, a sonar operator. “We don’t believe they didn’t know from before. They’re perverse bastards who’ve had us here for a week.”

Leguizamón said naval officers had not been able to finish reading relatives the latest report because of their angry reaction. She claimed her husband had told her about an incident in 2014 when the ARA San Juan had been unable to surface.

Argentina’s president, Mauricio Macri, has reportedly criticised naval commanders over their handling of the crisis. According to the Infobae website, Macri’s defence minister, Oscar Aguad, only learned that the submarine was missing when he read about it in the press.

Defending the delay, navy chiefs said military protocol advised a 48-hour waiting period before beginning search efforts for submarines lost at sea.

Also being called into question is the wisdom of having deployed a 34-year-old submarine to make the 10-day journey from the Argentinian port of Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world, to the naval base in Mar del Plata.

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