An apparent explosion was recorded near where an Argentinian submarine went missing last week, the country’s navy announced Thursday — devastating the sailors’ loved ones.
“An anomalous, singular, short, violent and nonnuclear event, consistent with an explosion, was registered,” said navy spokesman Enrique Balbi. Relatives of the 44 missing submariners on board the ARA San Juan — which vanished Nov. 15 — broke down crying after they were told of the new discovery, with some saying they’ve now given up hope.
“They haven’t come back and they will never come back,” said Jesica Gopar, wife of submarine officer Fernando Santilli. “I had a bad feeling about this and now it has been confirmed.”
Others lashed out in anger.
“They sent a piece of crap to sail,” said Itati Leguizamon, wife of crew member German Suarez.
“They inaugurated a submarine with a coat of paint and a flag in 2014, but without any equipment inside. The navy is to blame for its . . . years of abandonment.”
The relatives have been gathered at a navy base in the coastal city of Mar del Plata since the sub failed to return there Monday. The fence outside the facility is now covered with Argentinian flags, rosary beads and messages of hope, including drawings from more than 220,000 students.
On board was weapons officer Eliana Krawczyk — the country’s first female submariner.
Officials still don’t know what caused the sound — which came hours after the navy lost contact with the submarine — but there’s no evidence of an attack, Balbi said.
“We don’t know what caused an explosion of these characteristics at this site on this date,” he told reporters. But he said the search for the sub will continue until officials know for sure what happened to the vessel, which vanished en route from the southern port of Ushuaia.
A massive multinational team has been scouring the seas nearby — but time, and air, are running out.
Even if the sub is intact, its crew might have had enough oxygen to last only seven to 10 days.
The search is covering 185,000 square miles and has a depth of 10,000 feet, although experts say the sailors wouldn’t have survived had the submarine sunk to that level. But that could explain the “explosion.”
“If a submarine goes below its crush depth, it would implode, it would just collapse,” said James H. Patton Jr., a retired US Navy captain. “It would sound like a very, very big explosion to any listening device.”
The United States has sent two P-8 Poseidons, a naval research ship, a submarine rescue chamber, sonar-equipped underwater vehicles and sailors from the Navy’s Undersea Rescue Command to help with the search.
With wire services