Search for missing Argentinian submarine suspended

By Santiago Serna Duque

BOGOTA, Argentina (AA) - Captain Enrique Balbi, spokesman of the Argentine Navy, said on Thursday that the search for the the ARA San Juan submarine had been completed, and confirmed that "there will be no rescue efforts" because there is no factual possibility that they are alive.

The SAR crews (Search and rescue) stopped their search after traveling about one million nautical miles and diving to a depth of 300 meters. Rescue work that did not bear any results.

Balbi said that "no evidence of shipwreck was found in the explored areas nor was there any contact with the submarine or its life rafts."

From today on, international cooperation for the Argentine Navy ends, so the countries that offered to collaborate can decide if they wish to continue with the search.

The submarine ARA San Juan disappeared last Wednesday, Nov. 15.

The Navy notified that the reason for the disappearance of the ARA San Juan was an implosion.

The Austrian Embassy in Buenos Aires supported this thesis and explained that there was a "singular, short, violent and non-nuclear anomalous event consistent with an explosion" of a submarine in the vicinity.

*Ahmed Fawzi Mostefai​ contributed to this report.