BUENOS AIRES, December 3. /TASS/. The Argentine ship Islas Malvinas, carrying a Russian Pentera Plus unmanned submersible, has reached another location where the missing Argentine submarine San Juan might have sunk, Argentine Navy spokesman Enrique Balbi said on Sunday.
Earlier in the day, the Russian defense ministry said the Pantera Plus unmanned submersible had made two dives to survey the bottom contour in the search zone to find an object that was categorized as a fishing trawler.
"In the morning, the submersible was take to another location registered at a depth of 950 meters," Balbi said, adding that data received from echo sounders of two ships indicate a metal object lying on the bottom.
According to Balvi, the Argentine military continue to study a signal registered at a depth of 700 meters. Visual survey by a submersible was postponed due to unfavorable weather. "There is one more signal that will be studied on another day," he said.
On Friday, Balbi said the ships taking part in the search operation had registered six signals indicating objects lying on the bottom. Three of them have proved to be sunken fishing boats.
ARA San Juan, a diesel-electric powered submarine with a 44-strong crew aboard, stopped responding to radio communications on November 15. The Argentine Navy said an intensive search for it began in the night hours of November 16. A search and rescue operation was launched on the following day. The Argentine stopped the rescue operation on November 30.
The Russian Defense Ministry earlier reported that upon the instruction from President Vladimir Putin, Defense Minister Army General Sergey Shoigu had ordered to dispatch a group of experts from the Navy’s 328th expedition search and rescue unit to Argentina along with the Pantera Plus unmanned submersible, as well as the Russian Navy’s Yantar oceanographic research vessel.