Hope for missing Argentine submarine as possible calls detected

A Royal Navy patrol ship has begun scouring the the South Atlantic for a missing Argentine submarine after failed satellite calls thought to be from the vessel raised hopes the crew were still alive.

Argentine officials said naval bases had detected seven incomplete satellite calls over the weekend attributed to the sub and were now trying to use them to pinpoint its location.

The communication attempts "indicate that the crew is trying to re-establish contact, so we are working to locate the source of the emissions," the Argentine Navy said on its Twitter account, adding that the calls lasted between four and 36 seconds.

HMS Protector joined an international team of ships and aircraft braving heavy seas and high winds to search for the German-built ARA San Juan which has been lost since last week.

The vessel and its 44 crew last made contact on Wednesday when she was 267 miles off the coast in the Gulf of San Jorge.

The new possible calls were a sign for “cautious enthusiasm”, naval experts said, showing the crew may be alive, afloat and at a shallow enough depth to attempt to communicate.

Claudio Rodriguez, whose brother Hernan is aboard the submarine, told a local television channel: "They've got to be afloat. Thank God. That gives us hope, because we knew that if they were down below, they would be screwed.”

HMS Protector, the Royal Navy’s 5,000 ton ice patrol and survey ship, was diverted to join the search from a routine mission in the area and can bring its high definition sonar to bear on the search.

The hunt also includes help from Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and the United States. America on Sunday said it was sending a second P-8 Poseidon submarine hunting navy patrol plane to join the search. The US Navy has also dispatched two submarine rescue chambers that can dock onto stricken boats and ferry crew to the surface from hundreds of feet underwater.

The San Juan is a TR-1700 class submarine which had been returning from a routine mission to Ushuaia, near the southernmost tip of South America, to its base at Mar del Plata, about 250 miles south of Buenos Aires.

Among those on board is Argentina's first female submarine officer, 35-year-old weapons officer Eliana Krawczyk.

Rescuers are focusing on an ocean patch about 190 miles in diameter located about 270 miles from the coast of the southern province of Chubut.

Reuters.