Missing ARA San Juan suffered battery short circuit

The missing Argentinian submarine had reportedly sent a notice of a battery short circuit before it went silent.

Reuters has cited an Argentinian Navy’s spokesman who said this week that the short circuit had been caused by water ingress in the ARA San Juan submarine’s snorkel.

According to Argentinian media, following the short circuit report, the submarine had been instructed to return to base. It went missing on the way home on November 15, off the coast of Argentina, spurring a massive search and rescue operation.

To remind, the country’s navy confirmed last week that an explosion occurred near the position where the missing submarine was at the time of the incident.

The confirmation followed reports of a “hydroacoustic anomaly” detected by the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty Organization’s (CTBTO) hydroacoustic station located in the Crozet Islands.

Search and rescue operations for the submarine and its 44 crew members are continuing in the South Atlantic. The search operations are focused on the area were the aforementioned anomaly was detected, according to a statement issued by the navy’s communication department.

Several ships and planes from different countries, including the recently added ship Sophie Siem and the world’s largest aircraft Antonov, are involved in the search.

In addition, other areas are also being inspected but still without positive results.

On November 27, Oscar Aguad, the Defense Minister of Argentina, stressed that “our only concern is to find the vessel and provide more information to families and the rest of the community who are shocked by this event.”

Naval Today Staff