The United States is ending its search next week for the Argentina submarine that disappeared six weeks ago, the Navy has said.
ARA San Juan went missing on November 15 with 44 crew members on board in the South Atlantic, with an explosion being detected near the time and location from which it vanished.
The submarine’s disappearance triggered an international search for the ship and crew members, who have been presumed dead for weeks.
The Argentine Navy announced on Wednesday that with help from Russia, it is continuing its search for the ship.
The United States has decided, however, to end its search for the ship in January and instead will help from North America with data and planning analysis.
ARA San Juan went missing on November 15 with 44 crew members on board in the South Atlantic, with an explosion being detected near the time and location from which it vanished
The submarine’s disappearance triggered an international search for the ship and crew members, who have been presumed dead for weeks. Pictured above is the last known image of the submarine
The US Navy will end its search for the submarine on January 2. Pictured above, Argentine rescue commanders discuss current operations with Navy Cmdr Michael Eberlein, commanding officer of Undersea Rescue Command (URC) during the search and rescue mission last month
US Navy Cmdr Erik Reynolds told the Washington Post that a small team will continue searching for the submarine until January 2.
He said that after that, all technical assistance will be provided from back in the United States.
Southern Commadn said in a statement: ‘The US support team completed all searches in areas assigned by the Argentine Navy, sweeping each area twice with advanced sensors.
‘Despite their best efforts on behalf of the Argentine people and the families of the missing sailors, this international effort has yet to locate the ARA San Juan.’
More than 200 US personnel, three aircraft and a Navy research ship participated in the search for the submarine.
The rescue and recovery area covered more than 655 square nautical miles, according to a statement from US Southern Command.
The total search involving troops from more than a dozen countries covered 300,000 square miles.
Argentina, which received help from 13 countries in its search for the San Juan submarine, has abandoned hope of finding survivors and is concentrating only on finding the vessel.
In the last message from the submarine, it reported that seawater had entered the ventilation system, causing a battery on the diesel-electric vessel to short-circuit and start a fire
The tragedy led to the firing of Admiral Marcelo Srur, head of Argentina’s navy, earlier this month. Pictured above, the missing ARA San Juan in action before its disappearance
The South American country and Russia are still investigating a new sonar contact made with the ship within the last month.
In the last message from the submarine, it reported that seawater had entered the ventilation system, causing a battery on the diesel-electric vessel to short-circuit and start a fire.
The navy said that an unusual noise heard in the ocean near the last known position of the San Juan, three hours after its final contact, was ‘consistent with an explosion’.
Other reported contacts detected weeks ago amounted to nothing – with some arising from a fishing boat which sank years previously.
The tragedy led to the firing of Admiral Marcelo Srur, head of Argentina’s navy, earlier this month.
Experts said the crew only had up to ten days of oxygen if the sub remained intact under the sea.
This prompted the Argentine navy to end rescue efforts for the 44 missing crew of ARA San Juan more than two weeks after it vanished.
Some family members of the lost crew have denounced the navy’s response to the sub’s disappearance, as well as the age and condition of the vessel.
President Mauricio Macri has promised a full investigation.
A relative of one of the crew members of Argentine missing submarine ARA San Juan reacts at the Mar del Plata Navy Base Missing Argentine submarine, Mar del Plata, Argentina, last month
Argentina’s Navy confirmed on Thursday that there was a ‘singular, abnormal, short, violent and non-nuclear event’ consistent with an explosion in the area where the submarine was lost
The crew’s families demanded that Argentina’s navy reverses the decision to stop looking for survivors.
At the sub’s home naval base in Mar del Plata shortly after the navy announced they wouldn’t be looking for survivors any longer, relatives reacted with heartbreak.
Some hugged and fell on their knees sobbing near a fence crowded with blue-and-white Argentine flags, rosary beads and messages of support.
Others took to social media to pay homage to their loved ones.
‘I stay with this image,’ Jesica Gopar, said in a tweet that included a photo of her husband, submarine officer Fernando Santilli, smiling and holding their young son in his arms.
‘He’s the most beautiful being that God could have put on my path 13 years ago,’ she wrote. ‘He’s a hero who must be recognized along with his 43 other crew members. I hope you didn’t suffer my love.’
Former American Navy acoustic analyst Bruce Rule concluded that the 44 crew members would have died ‘instantly’ and ‘without suffering’.
The expert was quoted by leading Argentinian daily La Nacion, who reported: ‘The entire pressure-hull was completely destroyed in about 40 milliseconds or 1/25th of a second.’
Mr Rule, described as the former lead acoustic analyst at the US Office of Naval Intelligence which is the US’s premier maritime intelligence service, claimed that the submarine wreckage had sunk vertically at a speed of 10 to 13 knots.