Federico Ibanez clings to a fence crowded with blue-and-white Argentine flags, rosary beads and messages of support for his brother and 43 other crew members of a missing submarine that should have arrived to a naval base days ago. But his hopes are slowly dwindling.
Ibanez and other relatives of the sub’s crew are now growing increasingly distressed as experts say that the vessel lost in the South Atlantic for seven days might be reaching a critical period of low oxygen Wednesday.
The ARA San Juan went missing Nov. 15 when it was sailing from the port of Ushuaia to Mar del Plata, about 250 miles southeast of Buenos Aires. The Argentine navy worries that oxygen for the crew would last only seven to 10 days if the sub is intact but submerged. Authorities still do not know if the sub rose to the surface to replenish its oxygen supply and charge batteries.
The German-built diesel-electric TR-1700 class submarine was set to arrive Monday at a naval base in Mar del Plata, where residents have arrived bearing messages of support for relatives of the crew.