10338
From: Captainj, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Hope Fades as Search for Argentine Submarine Enters 9th Day
URL: http://gcaptain.com/hope-fades-search-argentine-submarine-enters-9th-day/
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Families of the 44 crew members of a missing Argentine submarine gave up hope and went home on Friday after a days- long wait at the sub’s Mar del Plata naval base, saddened and angered by evidence that the vessel may have exploded. The submarine went missing nine days earlier with only a one- week supply of oxygen onboard. The navy vowed to keep searching for the vessel and declined to confirm the wide-held fear that the crew had died. “Until we find the submarine and know the facts, we cannot venture to say anything more one way or the other to the families,” navy spokesman Enrique Balbi said. “The search is very difficult,” he said. Relatives of the crew had arrived at Mar de Plata on Monday, filled with an optimism that had all but disappeared by Friday. “At this point, the truth is I have no hope that they will come back,” Maria Villareal, mother of one crew member, told local television on Friday morning. Others said they would remain at Mar del Plata. “I’m at the base and I’m going to stay until they find the submarine,” Silvina Krawczyk, sister of the sub’s only female officer, Eliana Maria Krawczyk, told Reuters through the WhatsApp messaging application. Around 30 boats and planes and 4,000 people from Argentina, the United States, Britain, Chile and Brazil have joined the search for the submarine, which last transmitted its location about 480 km (300 miles) from the coast. Some family members accused the navy of putting their loved ones at unnecessary risk by sending them out in a more than 30- year-old vessel that they suspected was not properly maintained, an accusation the navy has denied. “They killed my brother!” a man leaving the base in a car shouted out to reporters. The older man driving the car was crying. The submarine, called the San Juan, was launched in 1983 and underwent maintenance in 2008 in Argentina. The armed forces have had to face dwindling resources and lack of training since the end of a military dictatorship in the early 1980s. A sound detected underwater on the morning of Nov. 15, around the time the San Juan sent its last signal and in the same area, was “consistent with an explosion,” navy spokesman Balbi said on Thursday. The information about the possible explosion came from the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty Organization, an international body that runs a global network of listening posts designed to check for secret atomic blasts. The fury of the crew’s relatives was aimed more at the navy, which they say has kept them in the dark about the missing vessel, than at President Mauricio Macri. Both the submarine program and military budget cuts started long before Macri’s late 2015 election. He has enjoyed generally favorable coverage from major Argentine news media outlets as he pushes free-market reforms. The government promised a thorough investigation into the sub’s disappearance and the navy’s response. |
10347
From: Captainj, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Argentina Abandons Rescue Mission for Missing Sub
URL: http://gcaptain.com/argentina-abandons-rescue-mission-for-missing-sub/
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Argentina has given up on rescuing 44 crew members on a submarine that disappeared 15 days ago, though it will continue the search for the vessel with international assistance, a navy spokesman said on Thursday. The ARA San Juan had a seven-day supply of air when it reported its last position on Nov. 15. The crew had been ordered to return to a naval base in Mar del Plata after reporting water had entered the vessel through its snorkel. “More than double the number of days have passed where it would have been possible to rescue the crew,” navy spokesman Enrique Balbi told a news conference. “We will continue the search… there will not be people saved.” Some family members criticized the government for giving up, and for its means of communicating. Luis Tagliapietra, whose son was on the submarine, said some 12 families had found out the rescue mission was abandoned from the televised news conference. He also told television channel TN the government had been too slow to say the water entering the sub caused it to short circuit, which the navy confirmed on Monday. The navy had said earlier, on Nov. 23, that international organizations detected a noise that could have been the submarine’s implosion the same day contact was lost. “I want to know what happened and I do not believe in any of the official hypotheses,” Tagliapietra said, his voice cracking up.” “I have no words for it.” Some families had held out hope for a miracle and were organizing prayer groups together. Balbi said 28 ships, nine planes and 4,000 people from 18 countries were involved in the search covering 557,000 nautical miles – more including radar monitoring. “Despite the magnitude of our search it has not been possible to find the submarine,” he said. |
10348
From: chatillion, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Argentina Abandons Rescue Mission for Missing Sub
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Heartbreak. Candles and Wheels! |
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[10349]
10349
From: Captainj, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Argentina Abandons Rescue Mission for Missing Sub
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Ya, I really did not like that last post... But since I started it, figured I would follow through... Very Sad! |
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10346
From: marja, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Hope Fades as Search for Argentine Submarine Enters 9th Day
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I'm a dreamer and a while before knowing the submarine went missing I kept hearing he sonar sounds... it's very tragic what's taking place...I hope at least they'll all find out eventually what happened to their loved ones... I could never serve on board a submarine... recently the russians subs have been observed by the people traveling from helsinki finland, to tallinn estonia, the question is, -why are they there ??? it happens all the time.... |
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10344
From: Captainj, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Argentine Navy: Water Entered Missing Sub’s Snorkel
URL: http://gcaptain.com/argentine-navy-water-entered-missing-subs-snorkel/
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Water entered the snorkel of the Argentine submarine ARA San Juan, causing its battery to short-circuit before it went missing on Nov. 15, a navy spokesman said on Monday as hope dwindled among some families of the 44-member crew. The San Juan had only a seven-day oxygen supply when it lost contact, and a sudden noise was detected that the navy says could have been the implosion of the vessel. Ships with rescue equipment from countries including the United States and Russia were nonetheless rushing to join the search. Before its disappearance, the submarine had been ordered back to its Mar del Plata base after it reported water had entered the vessel through its snorkel, causing a battery short circuit, navy spokesman Enrique Balbi told a news conference. “They had to isolate the battery and continue to sail underwater toward Mar del Plata, using another battery,” Balbi said. After contact with the San Juan was lost, the Vienna-based Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty Organization, an international body that runs a global network of listening posts designed to check for secret atomic blasts, detected a noise the navy said could have been the submarine’s implosion. The search for the 65-meter (213-foot) diesel-electric submarine is concentrated in an area some 430 km (267 miles) off Argentina’s southern coast. The effort includes ships and planes manned by 4,000 personnel from 13 countries, including Brazil, Chile and Great Britain. Among the crew’s family members, fissures started appearing on Monday between those who refuse to give up hope and those who say it is time to accept that their loved ones will not come back alive. Some relatives have said they are focusing on the lack of physical evidence of an implosion and the possibility that the submarine might have risen close enough to the ocean surface to replenish its oxygen supply after it went missing. But Itati Leguizamon said she believed her husband, crew member German Suarez, had died. “There is no way they are alive,” she told reporters, her voice shaking and eyes welling with tears. “It is not that I want this. I love him. I adore him. He left his mother and sister behind, but there is no sense in being stubborn. “The other families are attacking me for what I am saying,” she said, “but why have they not found it yet? Why don’t they tell us the truth?” |
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