Distress calls detected from missing Argentine sub

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In a likely sign the crew of 44 was trying to reestablish contact, Argentina's defense ministry said seven failed "satellite calls" that it believes came from a missing naval submarine were detected on Saturday.

The calls, believed to be from the ARA San Juan submarine, lasted between four and 36 seconds in the late morning and early afternoon, the ministry said in an emailed statement. The ministry said it was working on tracing the location with an unnamed US company specialized in satellite communications.

Whipping winds and 20-foot waves in the South Atlantic were hindering the international search for the submarine with 44 crew members on board as authorities readied a mission to comb the sea floor for signs of the missing military vessel.

The German-built ARA San Juan submarine last reported its location 432 km (268 miles) off Argentina's southern Atlantic coast early on Wednesday, prompting a massive search-and-rescue operation on Friday.

But a storm pitching powerful winds and waves 6 meters (20 feet) high has disrupted visibility and movement in the area, navy spokesman Enrique Balbi told reporters. The submarine’s color and design, which aim to camouflage the ocean's surface, also posed a challenge.

Nearly 80 percent of the search area has been scoured by ships and aircraft so far, Argentine navy spokesman Enrique Balbi told a news conference.

"The weather is bad. There is a storm with waves of six meters," Balbi said. "It really complicates the work."

And "at this stage of the search, there's really nothing that we can rule out," he stressed. So far, authorities say the likeliest hypothesis is that a power loss caused a cut in the communications.

The Argentine Naval Base where the missing at sea ARA San Juan submarine sailed from, in Mar del Plata, Argentina /Reuters Photo‍

Brazil, Britain, Chile, the United States and Uruguay took part in the aerial side of the search, said naval attache Oscar Filippi.

Argentine President Mauricio Macri said on his Twitter account that "we will do what is necessary to find the submarine as soon as possible."

The TR-1700 class diesel electric submarine had been returning from a routine mission to Ushuaia near the southernmost tip of South America, to its base at Mar del Plata, around 400 kilometers (250 miles) south of Buenos Aires.

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

The San Juan is one of three submarines in the Argentine fleet.

Sixty-five meters long and seven meters wide, it was built by Germany's Thyssen Nordseewerke and launched in 1983.

It underwent a re-fit between 2007 and 2014 to extend its usefulness by some 30 years.

Source(s): AFP ,Reuters