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Argentina Says Cannot Determine if Distress Calls Are From Missing Sub

By VOA News November 19, 2017

Argentina's Navy says it cannot confirm if seven brief satellite calls came from a lost submarine with 44 crew members on board.

Admiral Gabriel Gonzalez of the Mar del Plata Naval Base says Sunday officials have no evidence that the calls they detected Saturday came from the submarine.

Gonzalez said the Navy has intensified its aerial search off the country's southern Atlantic coast after adverse weather conditions spurred waves up to eight meters, making a maritime search difficult.

Earlier, the U.S. Navy ordered its Undersea Rescue Command to deploy to Argentina to assist with the effort to locate the submarine that disappeared four days ago.

A U.S. Navy Submarine Rescue Chamber and underwater intervention Remotely Operated Vehicle, were transported Sunday to Argentina. A U.S. space agency P-3 explorer aircraft and a U.S. P-8A Poseidon plane are already deployed for the search.

Submarines underwater can deploy to the surface a location beacon that can then emit emergency signals via satellite, according to a Reuters report. The Navy said a U.S. company that specializes in satellite communications was involved in trying to help locate the signals, according to Reuters.

The Navy lost contact with the German-built, diesel-electric submarine on Wednesday as it was returning from a routine mission from the naval base at Ushuaia, in Argentina's extreme south, to its base at Mar del Platam.

The Argentine Navy said an initial search at the vessel's last known position, about 430 kilometers off the southeastern Valdez peninsula, turned up no clues.

Argentine Navy commander Carlos Zavalla encouraged family, friends and colleagues of the crew members to remain positive. "So far, the only concrete thing is the lack of communication," he said on local TV.

Pope Francis, a native of Argentina, was among many from around the world to offer support. The pope's office said on Saturday he is praying "fervently" for the crew to safely return to their families soon.

The Navy has said it believed an electrical outage may have caused communication problems on the vessel. Navy protocol directs submarines to rise to the surface when communication is lost.