A large heat signal has been found in the desperate search for an Argentine navy submarine that went missing in the South Atlantic, according to reports.
Search planes and ships were sent to determine if the so-called “heat-stain” located by a US Navy aircraft about 300 kilometres off the coastal city of Puerto Madryn was the missing ARA San Juan.
The new hope comes as the search and rescue mission for the submarine and its 44 crew members entered a “critical” stage on Wednesday amid fears it could soon run out of oxygen.
Britain and four other countries are helping Argentina in the search, while crew members’ relatives gathered at the vessel’s base in Mar del Plata desperately awaiting news.
While a heat signature has now been established, it is not enough evidence to determine if the detected object is the missing submarine.
According to Argentinian national newspaper Clarín, sources close to the mission said an order was sent for the site to be searched “at full speed”.
If the German-built submarine had sunk or was otherwise unable to rise to the surface, it would be winding down its seven-day oxygen supply, Argentina’s navy said.
"Oxygen is a permanent worry. Every day that passes is more critical," naval commander Gabriel Galeazzi said at an evening news conference in Mar del Plata.
More than a dozen boats and planes from Argentina, the United States, Britain, Chile and Brazil had joined the search. Authorities had been mainly scanning from the sky as storms halted the maritime hunt last weekend.
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