The ship that found the ARA San Juan has now found a French submarine gone in 1968

The French submarine La Minerve sank mysteriously on January 27, 1968. Half a century later, at the request of the family of 52 crew members, the search was relaunched. The initiative has had its fruits. This weekend, Defense Minister Florence Parly confirmed that they found it on the seabed 45 kilometers from the port of Tolón.

In a statement, the authorities said that its depth was about 2,400 meters and that it had been located thanks to an underwater exploration with state-of-the-art technology and composed of new sonars and drones.

The great protagonist of the discovery was the US ship Seabed Constructor, from the company Ocean Infinity, which has already had in its history a very important discovery for the Argentineans. This same ship is the one that found the ARA San Juan on November 17, a submarine that had disappeared a year earlier with 44 crew on board. The national flag vessel was 907 meters deep and about 55 kilometers from Comodoro Rivadavia.

The military submarine La Minerve disappeared from the map on January 27, 1968 while he was maneuvering off the south coast of Tolón. Again the reasons that left him at the bottom of the sea are unknown.

Although he has not heard from him for 50 years, the parents of the French ship's crew have not withdrawn. Last year, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of his pbading, They asked that the research be resumed. In their statements, they claimed to be convinced that, thanks to technological advances, they could locate it.

His insistence succeeded. In early 2019, the agents restarted. French naval specialists focused on defining the area where the remains of the submarine were most likely to be found.

Last Tuesday, the seabed builder joined the commission and was responsible for finding its exact location. However, there is little chance that the bodies of the crew members will be found. "An Israeli submarine, the Dakar, sank in front of Cyprus two days before La Minerve, when they discovered it in 1999, there was nothing left," said Hervé Fauve, son of the commander of the French navy .