Canadian aircraft en route to assist search for missing Argentine sub: Sajjan

Canada has joined the search for the missing Argintinian submarine that was last heard from over a week ago.

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan announced Thursday that a CC-144 Challenger aircraft had departed from Halifax to assist with the search and rescue efforts for the missing Argentinian submarine and 44-person crew on board.

Sajjan also said that the Department of National Defence as well as the Canadian Armed Forces were responding to a request for assistance from the Government of Argentina

The Argentine navy raised the possibility on Thursday that a submarine missing in the South Atlantic suffered an explosion, heightening concerns over the fate of the 44 crew members on the eighth day of an international search effort.

On Nov. 15, a sound was detected underwater by an international agency at around the time and in the same area the ARA San Juan sent its last signal. The sound was “consistent with an explosion,” navy spokesman Enrique Balbi told reporters.

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The sub had only a seven-day oxygen supply, which left the relatives of the crew who’d gathered at the vessel’s base in the city of Mar del Planta with little hope.

“What’s the point of hope if it’s already over?” Itati Leguizamon, wife of one of the missing crew members, told reporters.

Other relatives broke into tears and hugged each other when they received the news, the Associated Press reports.

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The navy did not have enough information to say what the cause of the explosion could have been or whether the vessel might have been attacked, Balbi said.

Search-and-rescue crews were undeterred by a series of false leads that raised hope over recent days that the sub might be located. Asked during an evening news conference about the fate of the 44 sailors, Balbi said the situation was “critical.”

Over a dozen countries, including the United States and now Canada, have contributed to the search effort so far. Airplanes and ships from several countries are combing an area of over 480,000 square kilometers, or as the Associated Press writes, approximately the size of Spain.

With files from Reuters.