The Argentine Navy announced on Saturday that a private company hired by the government has located the submarine ARA San Juan some 800 meters (2625 feet) below the ocean’s surface a year after it went missing with 44 crew members on board.
The San Juan had a seven-day supply of air when it made its last report on its position on Nov. 15, 2017. The crew was ordered to return to a naval base at Mar del Plata on the country’s east coast, after it reported that water had entered the vessel through its snorkel.
A maritime company – Ocean Infinity, that can search and map the seabed, was hired by Argentina following the failure of a massive international operation to find the vessel after it had disappeared in the South Atlantic.
The San Juan was about 430 km (270 miles) off Argentina’s Patagonian coast when it last made contact.
The disaster was a major drawback for Argentina. The country has experienced a series of financial crises and has one of Latin America’s smallest defense budgets relative to the size of its economy.
