- ARA San Juan last contacted two days ago, 250 miles off the coast of Patagonia
- Argentina has now launched a search mission for the vessel and its 44 crew
- It was travelling from the naval base at Ushuaia to another south of Buenos Aires
- Navy spokesman Enrique Balbi denied the craft was lost, saying it had suffered an electrical malfunction instead
Argentina has launched a search mission for a submarine two days after the vessel last made contact.
The ARA San Juan was last heard from on Wednesday when it was sailing roughly 250 miles off the coast of Patagonia, the country’s Navy said in a tweet.
The sub was travelling from a naval base at Ushuaia in the far south to Mar del Plata, around 200 miles south of Buenos Aires, when it vanished.
The ARA San Juan (pictured in a file photo) last contacted the Argentine navy on Wednesday while 250 miles off the coast of Patagonia and has not been heard from since, a spokesman said
In total there are 44 people on board, according to the BBC.
It said it was carrying out operations to restore contact, and officials said the sub is not considered lost.
‘There isn’t any serious indication from the submarine,’ Navy spokesman Enrique Balbi told the Todo Noticias channel.
Instead he suggested the vessel had suffered an electrical fault, though it is not clear if he provided any evidence to support this claim.
The San Juan is a German-built TR-1700 type diesel-electric submarine. They are among the fastest diesel-electric subs in the world and the largest to be made in Germany since the end of the Second World War.
There are only two currently in operation, and both are used by the Argentine Navy. Four others are planned.
A naval spokesman denied the submarine and its 44 crew were lost, saying it had suffered an electrical fault, though it is not clear if he provided evidence for this