'Explosion' heard near submarine's last known position: Argentina navy

Argentina's navy confirmed on Thursday that an unusual noise heard in the ocean near the last known position of a submarine appeared to be an explosion, dashing the last hopes of finding the vessel and its 44 crew members.

Concern for the missing submarine and its crew has gripped Argentina since it was reported overdue at its Mar del Plata base on November 17, two days after the explosion.

"An anomalous, singular, short, violent and non-nuclear event consistent with an explosion," occurred shortly after the submarine's last communication, navy spokesman Captain Enrique Balbi said in capital Buenos Aires.

TRT World's Philip Owira has this report.

Relatives of the crew "feel cheated"

Relatives of the missing crew reacted with grief and anger to the news.

After days of false hopes, some of the relatives said the navy had retained information about the sub, and had lied to them over the past week.

"I feel cheated," said Itati Leguizamon, whose husband German Suarez was a sonar operator on the San Juan.

"They are perverse. They are miserable," she said.

"They did not tell us they died. But they tell us they are three thousand metres (9,800 feet) deep," added Leguizamon as other family members shouted angrily around her.

Underwater sounds detected in the first days of the search by two Argentine search ships were determined to originate from a sea creature, not the vessel. 

Satellite signals were also determined to be false alarms.

Bad weather hampering searches 

Argentina is leading an air-and-sea search with help from several countries now including Brazil, Britain, Chile, Colombia, France, Germany, Peru, Russia, the United States and Uruguay.

The week-long search has focused on the sub's last known position, around 320km off the Argentine coast, but has been hampered by bad weather.

The San Juan, a 34-year-old German-built diesel-electric submarine, had reported a battery problem on November 15 and said it was diverting to its home base at Mar del Plata, but did not send a distress signal, according to the navy.

Hydro-acoustic stations operated by the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty Organization had picked up the noise of the explosion on November 15 at 1352 GMT, Balbi said.

Explaining the lack of debris on the surface, Balbi said "nothing will end up floating to the surface" because a submarine "implodes."

Balbi said the search will continue until there is full certainty about the fate of San Juan.