BUENOS AIRES – An Argentine court on July 8 convicted a senior former naval officer over the 2017 implosion of a submarine in the South Atlantic in which all 44 crew members perished.
The wreck of the ARA San Juan was the Argentine navy’s deadliest disaster in peacetime.
Claudio Villamide, commander of the submarine force at the time of the tragedy, was given a three-year suspended sentence for aggravated negligence and breach of duties.
The federal court in the southern province of Santa Cruz also barred him from holding public office for six years.
Three other former naval chiefs were acquitted.
The ARA San Juan went missing on Nov 15, 2017, a week after it set off from Ushuaia on Argentina’s southern tip for its home port at the Mar del Plata naval base.
Before vanishing it reported that seawater had entered the ventilation system, causing a battery on the vessel to short-circuit and start a fire.
It sank and then imploded.
More than a dozen countries took part in the weeks-long search for the vessel, which was eventually located a year later by a private British marine robotics firm at a depth of around 900m, its hull dented and deformed.
The disaster traumatised Argentines and led to questions about whether the navy had fulfilled its duty of care towards the 43 men and one woman aboard.
Prosecutors told the trial that the ship was in a poor state of repair before setting sail and that its demise was “foreseeable.”
An attorney representing most of the victims’ families rejected the ruling as “insufficient” and announced plans to appeal.
“The families will appeal the acquittals and demand harsher sentences,” Valeria Carreras told AFP.
She nonetheless hailed the case as a “huge step” towards achieving accountability for the sailors’ deaths and expressed satisfaction that the court had returned a guilty finding against Villamide.
“These were 44 preventable deaths, and it sends a message to the Armed Forces and the State to protect those who serve the nation,” she said.
Prosecutors argued that Villamide failed to take into account the submarine’s “deficient enlistment conditions” as well as a request for it to undergo safety inspections.
He denied any wrongdoing and insisted the vessel was seaworthy.
The wreck still lies on the seabed, 500km off the coast of Santa Cruz province. AFP
