Detect emergency calls of lost Argentine submarine
The "ARA San Juan" would have issued seven satellite calls during the last hours.
Seven satellite calls that are presumed to come from the Argentine submarine lost in the South Atlantic with 44 crew members on board were detected this Saturday, the Ministry of Defense said in a statement.
The calls "did not connect to the bases" , the part indicates, "and work is being done to establish the exact location of the issuer" . This "would indicate that the crew is trying to reestablish contact," the statement said.
Both Chile and other countries are collaborating with the search tasks of the vessel.
The "ARA San Juan" is lost since Wednesday when it established its last contact 430 km from the coast in the South Atlantic, when it sailed back from Ushuaia (southern end) to Mar del Plata, 400 km south of Buenos Aires.
"The calls, with a duration of between 4 and 36 seconds, were received between 10.52 and 15.42 (13H52 and 15H52 GMT) in different bases of the Navy, although they did not get to establish contact," the statement said.
The signals were detected "with the collaboration of a US company specialized in satellite communication."
"Work is now being done to determine the precise location of the signal emitter, given the presumption that it could be the submarine carrying 44 crew members on board," the ministry said.
Since Thursday an intense search with international collaboration was deployed in the South Atlantic and so far had not yielded results.
Argentina received help to deploy underwater rescue equipment for trawling deep in the South Atlantic, when the possibilities of finding the submersible sailing on the surface were exhausted on Saturday.
The satellite calls open a hope of locating the ship to initiate a rescue procedure.
Expectation
In order to locate it "all the stations of terrestrial communications along the Argentine coast were ordered to carry out a preliminary and extended search of communications and to listen to all possible frequencies of transmission of the submarine".
The "take-off of an anti-submarine exploration aircraft and another maritime surveillance aircraft of the Naval Aviation Command" was ordered.
It was also arranged "the deployment of the destroyer ARA Sarandi with an onboard helicopter and the corvette ARA Rosales, both belonging to the Command of the Sea Fleet" Argentina.
At the base of Mar del Plata the relatives of the crew of the submarine are waiting for news.
International aid
Argentina will receive a special submarine rescue team from the United States on Sunday, said Navy spokesman Enrique Balbi. France also offered one.
This equipment will be added to ships with probes tracking the seabed, a NASA aircraft, patrols, aircraft and fishing vessels that were called to report any new sightings, communications or sonar location.
"A sweep has been made on 80 percent of the surface," said Gabriel Gonzalez, the head of the Mar del Plata naval base.
Given that "it has not been possible to find the submarine on the surface, we also give priority to the search for the sunken submarine," he said.
"The underwater search is much more complicated because it requires the use of media with a lot of technology, sonar and subacqua phones," he explained.
Bad weather
The search area is an area of about 300 km in diameter.
This Saturday a strong storm with winds of up to 90 km / h and waves of seven meters made the search difficult. For Sunday there are forecasts of weather improvements.
"All the offers of military and civilian assistance were finalized, and all help is welcome," said Balbi.
The Navy "does not rule out any hypothesis" about what happened to the submarine, the main one is an electrical fault.
England deployed to help the ship "Protector", which operates from the Falkland Islands.
Chile sent a frigate and Brazil an icebreaker that operates in Antarctica and exploration aircraft.
Concern
"We are committed to using all the national and international resources that are necessary to find the submarine ARA San Juan as soon as possible," President Mauricio Macri said on Twitter.
Macri spends the weekend in Chapadmalal, 25 km from Mar del Plata.
Pope Francis expressed "his fervent prayer" for the 44 crew members.
The submarine San Juan was incorporated into the Navy in 1985 and was subjected to maintenance in 2014.
It has on board the first submarine officer of the Argentine Navy and of South America, Eliana Krawczyk, 35 years old
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