Two leading Argentinian politicians are under fire after branding British Navy forces that have joined the search for the lost ARA San Juan submarine as ‘pirates’.
The submarine with 44 crew members on board has been missing for six days, with reports warning there could just be hours left before the vessel runs out of oxygen.
Several countries have offered help in the increasingly frantic search to track down the German-built sub, which lost contact with authorities two days after leaving Ushiaia, Chile, on a routine mission last Monday.
Incredible footage taken aboard one of the ships sent out to try and find the missing submarine shows the horrendous conditions rescuers are forced to search in.
Britain’s HMS Protector has been scouring the South Atlantic as part of the international hunt for the missing vessel, and is being joined by HMS Clyde which has been diverted from South Georgia.
The Argentine military submarine ARA San Juan and crew are seen leaving the port of Buenos Aires in a file photo. New satellite signals on Saturday raised hopes the crew is still alive
Britain’s HMS Protector (pictured) has been scouring the South Atlantic as part of the international hunt for the missing vessel
The Royal Navy has also deployed its elite submarine rescue team to join the search. The highly trained team of medics, engineers and escape specialists is continuously on six hours notice to go anywhere in the world.
But despite the increasing desperation to find the crew alive, Argentina’s Workers’ Party leader Gabriel Solano yesterday appeared to prefer that British forces did not help in the search, instead tweeting: ‘F*** you! pirates.’
He then added: ‘You are responsible for war crimes, like the sinking of the General Belgrado.’
The opposition party leader and Argentine legislator had earlier commented on a tweet from the British embassy in Buenos Aires that British forces were joining in the search, writing: ‘You are occupying troops in Argentine territories’.
He was immediately attacked by ordinary Argentinians who branded him an ‘***hole’ and a ‘moron’.
Silvia Del Palacaio wrote: ‘This must be a fake, this can’t be real, surely no-one can be much an A**HOLE!!!’
Incredible footage taken aboard one of the ships sent out to try and find the missing submarine shows the horrendous conditions rescuers are forced to search in
Eliana Krawczyk, 35, is the weapons officer on the ARA San Juan which last made contact with its base on Wednesday. She is Argentina’s first female submariner
But despite the increasing desperation to find the crew alive, Argentina’s Workers’ Party leader Gabriel Solano (pictured) appeared to prefer that British forces did not help in the search
To which Monica Virgina Land replied: ‘Yes he can. And he demonstrates it every day, every day he’s more of a**hole. It’s terrible, I’m disgusted to have a legislator like him.’
Florencia tweeted: ‘There are 44 Argentinians em risk of their lives, the world is giving an enormous hand and you start a war on Twitter. Get real.’
MAX tweeted: ‘Thank God people think and do not vote for this type of human scourge.’
And Noelia Lorenzo wrote, using an emoji of the British flag: ‘You have no idea of human greatness. Nothing at all. You will never understand that those you love to hate, are giving everything to help Argentina. UK, such a gesture will never be forgotten.’
His comments come after another politician, Fernando Esteche, leader of the Quebracho party, also used Twitter to attack the deployment of British forces in the search for the missing sub.
He replied to a post about the operation on the Falkland Islands Twitter account: PIRATES NOW AND ALWAYS!!!!’
Before vanishing on Wednesday, the vessel was on a routine trip from a base in Ushia, on the southern tip of South America, to its home base of Mar del Plata
Krawczyk, 35, is one of the crew onboard the vessel which went missing on Wednesday
The color and design of the ARA San Juan (seen in file photo), which aim to camouflage the vessel, also posed a challenge for searchers as high waves lash the South Atlantic
He later wrote: ‘Yesterday they sank the Belgrano outside the exclusion zone and today they want thanks for their collaboration in the search for the ARA San Juan. That they help but that they do not expect anything in return because they still occupy our islands. These are the laws of the sea!’
Again he was criticised by Argentinians growing increasingly concerned about the fate of the 44 submarine crew members.
Charly Vega wrote: ‘Mental retard. Slow like all the rest of your type. Imbecile retrograde.’
Another Twitter use replied: ‘You are such a venemous son of a b****, that in your heart there doesn’t exist generosity or solidarity before an extreme emergency of 44 people, and you do not hesitate to take advantage of the submarine subject to spill your poison. You are clearly a despicable human being and that’s why you are single.’
The Falkland Islands Twitter account replied to the comment writing: ‘The Royal Navy are out searching for missing Argentine sailors and this is what you tweet? What an a**hole.’
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 there was no contact until the failed signals