Navy releases new timeline of hours before Argentine sub went missing
Updated 2333 GMT (0733 HKT) November 28, 2017
Story highlights
- Navy: submarine reported a battery short-circuit roughly 10 hours before an explosion-like sound was detected
- Searchers still are scouring the Atlantic for the ARA San Juan and its 44 crew members
(CNN)The
Argentine military Tuesday released its most detailed timeline yet in
this month's disappearance of a naval submarine, saying that the vessel
first reported a battery short-circuit roughly 10 hours before an
explosion-like sound was detected near the sub's last known location.
Ships
and aircraft still are scouring the South Atlantic for the ARA San Juan
and its 44 crew members, which disappeared November 15 a few hundred
kilometers off Argentina's coast.
An undated photo provided by the Argentina Navy shows the ARA San Juan.
The Argentine navy had previously said the
vessel's captain reported a short-circuit in the vessel's battery
system shortly before the last known contact. On Tuesday, the navy
released new details, including the times and contents of the vessel's
communications with a command base.
The new timeline, according to Argentine navy spokesman Enrique Balbi:
November 15, 12:30 a.m.: The
sub's captain calls his land-based commander by satellite phone, saying
that seawater has entered the vessel's "snorkel," a tube that reaches
the surface to refresh the vessel's air and recharge the batteries. He
says the water caused a short-circuit in the battery system in the
vessel's bow and the beginnings of a fire, or smoke. The smoke was put
out and the short-circuited system was isolated.
The captain indicates that the battery- and diesel-powered sub would continue traveling with its stern batteries.
6 a.m.: The captain types the same message and relays it to base electronically, as is protocol following a phone conversation.
7:30 a.m.:
The captain calls base again, this time to say that the vessel is
traveling, submerged, as planned, without any personnel problems.
10:31 a.m.: A sound consistent with an explosion is detected in the ocean, near the sub's last known location.
The Argentine navy says it didn't know about the explosion-like sound until last week, when the United States and an international organization said they had uncovered the acoustic data.
There was no evidence of any attack and no information on the cause of the noise, Balbi said last week.
The
San Juan had been traveling from a base in Argentina's far southern
Tierra del Fuego archipelago to its home base in Mar del Plata, on
country's northern coast.
The sub
was a few hundred kilometers off the coast when it disappeared November
15, roughly halfway between its departure point and destination.
Crews
from a number of nations are searching by air and sea for the San Juan
in an area of roughly 40,000 square kilometers, Balbi said Tuesday.
The time to find the crew with a viable air supply may have passed.
A
woman cries outside the Mar del Plata naval base after learning that a
sound detected during the search for the missing ARA San Juan submarine
is consistent with that of an explosion.
The
San Juan, if intact after an initial emergency, would have enough air
to last seven to 10 days, if it remained fully immersed during that
time, experts say. If the submarine surfaced or raised its snorkel to
refresh its air, the crew could have bought more time.
The
10-day mark was reached Saturday. Searchers don't know where the sub
is, and no contact was made with the vessel after the morning of
November 15, Balbi has said.
"It's a difficult situation, but we will keep on searching," Balbi said Tuesday.
Navy investigating 'leak' of purported message
The
navy released the new timeline a day after Argentine TV news outlet A24
published what it said was the typed communication from the sub's
captain to base on the morning the sub vanished.
CNN's
English translation of the message that A24 broadcast is: "Seawater
leaked in through the ventilation system into battery system No. 3,
causing a short circuit and the early stages of a fire where the
batteries were. The batteries on the external bow are out of service. We
are currently submerging with a divided circuit. Nothing new to report
regarding personnel. Will keep you informed."
Balbi's
account of the sub's 6 a.m. message roughly matches the document that
A24 broadcast Monday. But Balbi said he couldn't release a printout of
the message, saying it was confidential.
He called A24's document a "leak," and said the navy was investigating the leak.
Water in the snorkel
Balbi
said it is normal that some water -- from waves, for example -- would
enter the sub's snorkel while it takes in air above the surface. A pump
system usually can expel excess water.
But, "if more water goes in than the pump can handle, that could be a problem," Balbi said.
The
sub would have had the capacity to travel with just one set of
batteries, Balbi said, but would have done so at a slower speed, to
reduce the number of times it would need to snorkel.
