A storm has complicated the search for an Argentine navy submarine missing in the South Atlantic with 44 crew members.
US planes carrying subsurface search specialists have arrived in Argentina to help hunt for the ARA San Juan, which was 432 km off Argentina's coast when its location was last known early on Wednesday, said navy Admiral Gabriel Gonzalez.
Authorities have mainly been scanning the sea from above as waves of up to 8 metres and winds of up to 40 knots made the search difficult for boats, Gonzalez told reporters.
"Unfortunately these conditions are expected to remain for the next 48 hours," Gonzalez said from the Mar del Plata naval base, about 420 km south of Buenos Aires where the submarine had been heading toward before vanishing.
The defense ministry has said the submarine appeared to have tried to make contact through seven failed satellite calls on Saturday between late morning and early afternoon. On Sunday afternoon, Gonzalez said it was still not clear whether the calls were sent by or to the vessel.
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"What we are trying to do today is geolocate those calls to see if they correlate with any point in the operation zone that would suggest it is the San Juan submarine," navy spokesman Enrique Balbi told reporters on Sunday afternoon.
A search of 80 per cent of the area initially targeted for the operation turned up no sign of the submarine on the ocean's surface, but the crew should have ample supplies of food and oxygen, Balbi said.
The dramatic search has captivated the nation of 44 million, which recently mourned the loss of five citizens killed when a truck driver plowed through a bicycle path in New York City.
