'Explosion' detected near site of missing Argentinian submarine

The navy have confimed an abnormal sound 'consistent with an explosion' along the route the ARA San Juan was following

People pray outside Argentina's Navy base in Mar del Plata while the search for the missing ARA San Juan submarine continues (Photo: Getty Images)
People pray outside Argentina's Navy base in Mar del Plata while the search for the missing ARA San Juan submarine continues (Photo: Getty Images)

An “abnormal” sound detected in the South Atlantic ocean hours after an Argentinian navy submarine sent its last signal last week was “consistent with an explosion,” said a navy spokesman on Thursday.

Captain Enrique Balbi described the blast in the morning of 15 November as “abnormal, singular, short, violent” and “non-nuclear” and said it was detected at 10:31am along the route the ARA San Juan was following when it last made radio contact three hours earlier.

The sound has been pinpointed to within a radius of 125km. Six vessels are currently attempting to locate the submarine, in an area that was previously searched.

The explosion was detected by US sensors and by international agencies responsible for the detection of nuclear explosions around the world, Balbi said. Two Nasa planes are continuing to overfly the area in search of the submarine.