Submarine hunt: RAF plane back on Argentine soil for first time since Falklands
The British crew are helping in the "critical" search for missing submarine ARA San Juan, which has been missing for a week.
Thursday 23 November 2017 11:53, UK
An RAF aircraft has landed on Argentinian soil for the first time since the Falklands War to assist in the search for a missing submarine.
The ARA San Juan disappeared 268 miles off Argentina's southern Atlantic coast last Wednesday and is understood to have had a seven-day supply of oxygen.
As part of the UK's effort to help in the search for the Argentinian sub and its crew, an RAF Voyager carrying equipment and submarine specialists was dispatched to Comodoro Rivadavia.
On its arrival in the southern Argentinian city, the crew were received by an Argentinian navy chief.
It marks the first time since the Falklands conflict in 1982 that an RAF plane has landed in Argentina.
Jorge Faurie, of Argentina's foreign ministry, said: "If there is some extra still available resource, no matter where it comes from, we have to resort to them because of them possibly depends on the location of our compatriots.
"Here there is no interest of each other. It is the interest of Argentines and of our 44 compatriots."
The Argentinian navy says the search has entered a "critical phase" due to the lack of oxygen in the ARA San Juan.
Spokesman Enriqui Balbi said: "There has been no contact with anything that could be the San Juan submarine."
He added that favourable weather had meant boats could cover a wider area, having been hampered by strong winds and waves in the last few days.
Several possible signals, including sounds and flares, that have been detected in the search have turned out to be false alarms.
Mr Balbi said a British ship had seen flares but they were not from the missing submarine.
ARA San Juan was travelling from Ushaia to Mar del Plata, 250 miles south of Argentina, when it reported an electrical malfunction before it disappeared.
Several relatives of the 44 missing crew members have gathered at a naval base in Mar del Plata, where the search is being coordinated.
Elena Alfaro, the sister of crew member and radar expert Cristian Ibanez, said: "We came today because we had hope that they had returned.
"It is incomprehensible that so much time has passed. We are in pain."