MAR DEL PLATA (Argen­­­tina): The search for the Argentine submarine missing in the south Atlantic shifted from rescue to recovery on Friday, as navy officials lost hope of finding any of the 44 crew members alive.

“We have to find the submarine at the bottom of the sea, the area is large, the environment hostile, and the search very difficult,” said Argentine navy spokeman Enrique Balbi.

On Thursday Balbi revealed that there had been an explosion onboard the San Juan shortly after the submarine signalled a problem with its batteries on Nov 15.

Officially the navy has not declared the loss of the crew, but marine experts believe an explosion would have been catastrophic.

Brenda Salva, friend of crew member Damian Tagliapietra, said she had been told by the commander of the Mar del Plata naval base: “They are all dead”.

For the relatives of the crew, grief had turned to anger by Friday.

“I want to tell Admiral Marcelo Srur that he is not in a position to be in charge of a force, and to the president (Mauricio Macri), to bring order,” said Maria Rosa Belcastro, mother of 38-year-old Lieutenant Fernando Villarreal.

Relatives have focused their anger on the condition of the 34-year-old sub, which had undergone a seven-year refit to extend its service, and the navy’s guardedness since the start of the search operation.

Balbi responded to criticism by saying that “no ship would put to sea if it was unseaworthy”.

Argentine press reports on Friday said the centre-right government of President Mauricio Macri was preparing to sack navy chief Srur in a purge of top brass in a country where the military is distrusted.

Memories are still fresh in Argentina of the 1976-83 military dictatorship responsible for the disappearance of an estimated 30,000 people.

The San Juan tragedy comes a month after Macri’s government was accused of a cover-up in the killing of activist Santiago Maldonado after he was arrested by security forces during an indigenous rights protest.

“The government is considering changing the leadership of the navy.”

Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2017