Hope Fades as Search for Argentine Submarine Enters 9th Day

JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii (Sept. 20, 2012) The Los Angeles-class submarine USS Key West (SSN 722) departs Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam en route to her new homeport at Naval Base Guam. Key West will be one of three forward deployed submarines, ready to fulfill emergent theater commander tasking in support of the nation’s maritime strategy efforts. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Steven Khor/Released

Hopes diminished that the 44 crew members on a Argentine submarine missing for nine days would be found alive after evidence pointed to the possibility that it had exploded and because it only had a seven-day supply of oxygen.

Crew members’ relatives who had been waiting for news at the submarine’s base in the city of Mar del Plata started going home late on Thursday, while the navy vowed to keep searching.

“At this point, the truth is I have no hope that they will come back,” Maria Villareal, mother of one crew member, told local television on Friday morning.

The Argentine submarine ARA San Juan, S-42, docked before a mission. The sub has been missing since Nov. 15. en.wikipedia.org