Missing Argentine Submarine Latest: Commission To Investigate Cause Of Disappearance

The cause of ARA San Juan's disappearance will be investigated by a commission created by the congress in Argentina, according to reports Monday. The Argentine submarine went missing Nov. 15 with 44 crew in the Atlantic Ocean.

No trace of the missing submarine has been found despite an intensive search, with help from United States and Russia. The ARA San Juan's last known location was about 300 miles from Argentina's southern coast and was believed to have disappeared following the battery failure. Despite weeks of search, the ship was not found and the people on board were declared dead.

The commission will investigate the causes and circumstances of the vessel's disappearance as well as the ongoing search and rescue operation. The move comes after the next of kin of those on board the missing vessel raised doubts over the circumstances surrounding ARA San Juan's disappearance. The commission will be made up of six members of the Chamber of Deputies and six senators from both opposition and government parties, BBC reported.

The commission aims to find the cause of the submarine's disappearance and also assess its condition before it sailed. It will also analyze how the navy and the ministry of defence conducted the search so far.

Argentine navy said recently one of its boats would join the Russian ship Yantar and another Argentine navy vessel in the search Wednesday. The search is currently concentrated in an area where a loud noise was recorded in the hours following the disappearance.

The fate of the ARA San Juan and its 44 crew members remains shrouded in mystery. Officials maintained the crew died in an explosion on board the ship and said no one was left alive on board.

Argentine’s naval chief Admiral Marcelo Srur was sacked last month in the wake of the submarine’s disappearance. Srur was appointed by President Mauricio Macri in 2016 and was the fifth senior officer to be removed from his post amid the investigation into the ARA San Juan.

There have been many theories that surfaced about the missing submarine. Some families of the crew also accused the Argentine Navy of cover-ups. Following its disappearance, accusations of bribery and corruption surrounding the vessel’s battery replacement also surfaced.

The fate of the ARA San Juan and its 44 crew members remained shrouded in mystery. The father of one crew member recently alleged the disaster was covered up by officials. Luis Tagliapietra, the father of crew member Alejandro Damian, told the United Kingdom’s the Times the navy was hiding things from the families.

“Something very serious must have happened for so many lies to be told and for the total lack of effort to find it,” he said.

Jesica Medina, the sister of one of the 44 missing sailors on board the vessel, said a Royal Navy helicopter was chasing the Argentine submarine when it went missing. However, U.K.'s Ministry of Defense refuted the claims.