Argentinian Submarine Found but Running Out of Oxygen

Source: dailymail.co.uk

The missing Argentine submarine may have been located early thismorning, after a US Navy aircraft allegedly detected a 'heat stain' from 230ft below the surface, some 185miles from the coast, and a rescue vessel separately reported hearing a sonar signal.

The ARA San Juan was sailing from Ushuaia to Mar del Plata when it disappeared with 44 crew members last Wednesday, including Argentina's first female submariner Eliana Krawczyk, 35, and Luis Niz, 25, who is due to get married in two weeks time.

The crew's oxygen supply was due to run out this morning as they only had enough on board to last seven days - leaving the international rescue mission racing against time to the spot where the signals were detected.

Rescue mission: Argentina's Navy destroyer ARA Sarandi sails off to take part in the search of missing submarine ARA San Juan, from the north breakwater of Argentina's Navy base in Mar del Plata, on the Atlantic coast south of Buenos Aires

The ARA San Juan (pictured) has been missing for a week after reporting a fault before dropping out of communications

Race against time: The rescue mission is reportedly heading to this area after two separate signals were recorded

The ARA San Juan would have enough oxygen for its crew to survive underwater for seven days, if there was no hull breach, according to officials, a time which would have elapset at 7.30am GMT.

'The question of oxygen has worried us since the beginning,' admitted navy spokesman Enrique Balbi. 'Little by little we enter an increasingly critical phase.'