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Russian rescuers resume search for missing Argentine submarine

The San Juan, a diesel-electric submarine with a 44-strong crew aboard, stopped responding to radio communications on November 15

BUENOS AIRES, December 5. /TASS/. Russian rescuers have resumed combing the seabed in the area of the search for the sunken Argentine submarine San Juan and are now surveying an object detected at a depth of 940 meters, Argentine Navy spokesman Enrique Balbi said on Tuesday.

"Currently, a submersible is surveying this object or a seabed anomaly, which may be either metal or not, that was detected by the Chilean Cabo de Hornos ship several days ago. The object is lying at a depth of 940 meters," he said, adding that Russian specialists had resumed the search operation as soon as weather conditions had improved.

According to Balbi, another object was found in this area earlier but it is not the submarine. "After that, there was no possibility to continue the search for the source of the signal registered by the Cabo de Hornos," he added.

The Russian Defense Ministry said earlier that Russian military sailors taking part in the search for the missing submarine San Juan had suspended the dives of remote controlled submersibles due to the deterioration of weather conditions in the search area.

According to the ministry, over the time of their participation in the search effort off the Argentine coast, specialists of the Russian Navy’s rescue detachment have made six dives to depths of 125-970 meters to survey the detected anomalies of the seabed. The descent capsule Pantera Plus helped detect and categorize a fishing trawler and a concrete massif.

The San Juan, a diesel-electric 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 of November 16. A search and rescue operation was launched on the following day. The Argentine Navy stopped the rescue operation on November 30.