VIDEO: NO SIGN OF MISSING ARGENTINA SUBMARINE
On November 15, 2017, an Argentina submarine went missing. The ARA San Juan, which had 44 crew members aboard, has been missing for two weeks now, and the international effort to find the missing Argentinian submarine has come up empty after scouring more than two-thirds of the search area, a navy spokesperson said on Wednesday.
The search is focused on a patch of the South Atlantic, about 40km2 around the point of an explosion that likely doomed the vessel, as well as calculations based on the sub's direction and speed, Argentina's navy spokesperson Enrique Balbi told reporters.
Aircraft and ships from 18 countries looking for the submarine have already covered about 68% of the search area, Balbi said.
The search is taking place about 450km off Argentina's southern coast, in an area where the depth of the ocean floor varies between 200m and 1 000m. Balbi added that its hard to tell when the ships and planes will have covered all of the search area. "It depends on the weather," he said. "It is a slow sweep."
Weather conditions will be favourable on Wednesday and Thursday, Balbi said, adding that at least eight ships are operating in the search area. In their last message, the submarine crew reported an electrical short-circuit caused by sea water which had started a fire, an Argentinian TV channel reported on Monday.
The submarine said seawater had entered the ventilation system of the submarine, causing a battery on the diesel-electric vessel to short-circuit and start a fire, according to the text of the message, which was reported by the A24 television channel.
Keep an eye open for updates on the story and have a look at the press conference in the video below.