Argentine navy loses contact with submarine carrying 44

Argentina's Navy said Friday it has lost contact with a submarine carrying 44 crew members off the country's southern coast and has mounted an extensive search.

The Navy said that ships and aircraft were searching near the last known location of the ARA San Juan, a German-built diesel-electric vessel, which had not been heard from since Wednesday.

This undated photo provided by the Argentina Navy shows an ARA San Juan, a German-built diesel-electric vessel, near Buenos Aires, Argentina. Argentina's Navy said Friday, Nov. 17, 2017, it has lost contact with its ARA San Juan submarine off the country's southern coast. (Argentina Navy via AP)

The Navy said it was scanning all possible radio transmission frequencies for a sign of the San Juan.

Navy spokesman Enrique Balbi told The Associated Press that it is possible that the submarine had an electrical issue and said it could not yet be termed lost.

This 2014 photo provided by the Argentina Navy shows the ARA San Juan, a German-built diesel-electric vessel, docked in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Argentina's Navy said Friday, Nov. 17, 2017, it has lost contact with the submarine off the country's southern coast. (Argentina Navy via AP)

"The last position (registered) was two days ago. Without wanting to be alarmist or overdramatic, the facts are that there no form of communications could be established between the vessel and its command, even with the alternative methods that the submarine has," Balbi said.

"What we interpret is that there must have been a serious problem with the communications (infrastructure) or with the electrical supply, cables, antennae or other (onboard) equipment."
Adm. Gabriel Gonzalez, chief of the Mar del Plata base that was the submarine's destination, said the vessel had sufficient food and oxygen.

This 2013 photo provided by the Argentina Navy shows an ARA San Juan, a German-built diesel-electric vessel, near Buenos Aires, Argentina. Argentina's Navy said Friday, Nov. 17, 2017, it has lost contact with its ARA San Juan submarine off the country's southern coast. (Argentina Navy via AP)

"We have a loss of communications; we are not talking of an emergency," he said.

Still, relatives of some of the crewmembers were at the base awaiting word of the search.

"We are praying to God and asking that all Argentines help us to pray that they keep navigating and that they can be found," Claudio Rodriguez, the brother of one of the crewmembers, told the local Todo Noticias TV channel.

"We have faith that it's only a loss of communications," he added.

This 2014 photo provided by the Argentina Navy shows the ARA San Juan, a German-built diesel-electric vessel, docked in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Argentina's Navy said Friday, Nov. 17, 2017, it has lost contact with its ARA San Juan submarine off the country's southern coast. (Argentina Navy via AP)

Balbi said the sub was headed from the naval base at Ushuaia in Argentina's extreme south to Mar del Plata, about 250 miles (400 kilometers) southeast of Buenos Aires. He asked for patience while the search is carried out and said that the sub must surface so visual or radar contact can be made.

The Argentine Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the governments of Britain, Chile and the United States had offered "logistical help and an exchange of information for this humanitarian search." The statement also said that Argentina is also working with authorities in neighboring countries in case it needs support to locate the submarine.

The San Juan was commissioned in 1985 and was most recently refit in 2014.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Thursday displayed apparent progress in the construction of a nuclear-powered submarine, with state media photos showing a largely completed hull, as leader Kim Jong Un condemned rival South Korea’s push to acquire the technology.

North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said Kim visited a shipyard to inspect the construction of what the North describes as an 8,700-ton-class nuclear-propelled submarine, which the leader has called a crucial step in the modernization and nuclear armament of North Korea’s navy. The North has indicated it plans to arm the submarine with nuclear weapons, calling it a “strategic guided missile submarine” or a “strategic nuclear attack submarine.”

During the visit, Kim described South Korea’s efforts to acquire its own nuclear-powered submarine, which have been backed by U.S. President Donald Trump, as an “offensive act” that severely violates the North’s security and maritime sovereignty.

He said that the South Korean plan further underscores the need to advance and nuclear-arm North Korea’s navy, and claimed that the completion of his nuclear-powered submarine would be an “epoch-making” change in strengthening its nuclear war deterrent against what he called enemy threats.

The agency did not specify when Kim visited the shipyard but released photos showing him inspecting a huge, burgundy-colored vessel, coated with what appears to be anti-corrosion paint, under construction inside an assembly hall with senior officials and his daughter. It was the first time North Korean state media had released images of the submarine since March, when they mostly showed the lower sections of the vessel.

It was not immediately clear how close North Korea is to completing the vessel. But because submarines are typically built from the inside out, the release of what appears to be a largely completed hull suggests that many core components, including the engine and possibly the reactor, are already in place, said Moon Keun-sik, a submarine expert at Seoul’s Hanyang University.

“Showing the entire vessel now seems to indicate that most of the equipment has already been installed and it is just about ready to be launched into the water,” said Moon, a former submarine officer in the South Korean navy, who believes the North Korean submarine could possibly be tested at sea within months.

A nuclear-powered submarine was one item on a long wish list of sophisticated weaponry that Kim announced during a major political conference in 2021 to cope with what he called growing U.S.-led military threats. Other weapons were solid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missiles, hypersonic weapons, spy satellites and multi-warhead missiles.

North Korea has conducted a series of tests to develop some of those systems and recently unveiled a new naval destroyer, which Kim hailed as a major step toward expanding the operational range and preemptive strike capabilities of the country’s nuclear forces.

If North Korea obtains a submarine capable of operating stealthily for extended periods and launching missiles from underwater, it would be a worrying development for its neighbors, as such launches would be difficult to detect in advance. But there have been questions about whether North Korea, a heavily sanctioned and impoverished country, could get resources and technology to build nuclear-powered submarines.

Some experts say North Korea’s recent alignment with Russia — including sending thousands of troops and military equipment to support President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine — may have helped it to receive crucial technologies in return.

While some analysts suspect North Korea may have sought a reactor from Russia, possibly from a retired Russian submarine, Moon said it's more likely that North Korea designed its own reactor, while possibly receiving some technological assistance from Russia.

During a summit with Trump in November, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung called for U.S. support for South Korea’s efforts to acquire nuclear-powered submarines, while reaffirming a commitment to increase defense spending to ease the burden on the United States.

Trump later said that the United States is open to sharing closely held technology to allow South Korea to build a nuclear-powered submarine, but it’s not immediately clear where and when the vessel would be built and how Seoul would get the nuclear fuel and reactor technology required.

In a separate report, KCNA said Kim on Wednesday supervised tests of new antiair missiles fired into the sea. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff later said it had detected the North launching several missiles from an eastern coastal town, and that South Korean and U.S. intelligence agencies were assessing the details of the weapons.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have worsened in recent years as Kim accelerated his military nuclear program and deepened alignment with Moscow following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. His government has repeatedly dismissed calls by Washington and Seoul to revive negotiations aimed at winding down his nuclear and missile programs, which derailed in 2019 following a collapsed summit with Trump during the American president’s first term.

In this photo provided by the North Korean government, a test of a long-range anti-air missile is launched towards its eastern sea, as seen from an undisclosed location in North Korea, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

In this undated photo provided Thursday, Dec. 25, 2025, by the North Korean government, its leader Kim Jong Un, with his daughter, inspects a nuclear-powered submarine under construction at an undisclosed location in North Korea. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

In this undated photo provided Thursday, Dec. 25, 2025, by the North Korean government, its leader Kim Jong Un, third left, visits a shipyard as he inspects a nuclear-powered submarine under construction at an undisclosed location in North Korea. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

In this undated photo provided Thursday, Dec. 25, 2025, by the North Korean government, its leader Kim Jong Un inspects a nuclear-powered submarine under construction at an undisclosed location in North Korea. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

In this undated photo provided Thursday, Dec. 25, 2025, by the North Korean government, its leader Kim Jong Un inspects a nuclear-powered submarine under construction at an undisclosed location in North Korea. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)