Widening search finds no sign of missing Argentine submarine
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Ships and planes combed a wider area of the frigid South Atlantic on Tuesday in a fruitless hunt for signs of a missing Argentine submarine, adding to growing concerns about the vessel not heard from in six days.
Argentine navy officials have worried that if the ARA San Juan was intact but disabled underwater, its crew of 44 might have only enough oxygen to last seven days.
“The most critical situation would be that we are in the sixth day of oxygen,” the navy’s spokesman, Capt. Enrique Balbi, said at a news conference. “Obviously that is worrisome. Each time we are entering little by little a critical period.”
Experts, however, said it was possible that the diesel-electric submarine’s oxygen supply might last as many as 10 days in the case of a battery failure as reported by the boat’s captain in his last communication.