Argentine Defense Minister Calls Spending $4Bln To Recover San Juan Submarine 'Reckless'

Argentine Defense Minister Oscar Aguad said on Monday that it would be "reckless" to invest $4 billion in an operation to retrieve the wreckage of the ARA San Juan submarine from the depths of the Atlantic Ocean when some 30 percent of Argentinians are living in poverty.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th November, 2018) Argentine Defense Minister Oscar Aguad said on Monday that it would be "reckless" to invest $4 billion in an operation to retrieve the wreckage of the ARA San Juan submarine from the depths of the Atlantic Ocean when some 30 percent of Argentinians are living in poverty.

Earlier in the day, the Argentine Navy published the photos of the crushed wreckage of the submarine, which was located by the US search firm Ocean Infinity on November 17, two days after the first anniversary of its disappearance on November 15, 2017. The families of the deceased sailors are reportedly asking the authorities to extract the vessel.

"If we raise [the vessel], it will indeed cost $4 billion, it would be reckless to spend this money, this is my personal opinion. [To spend] $4 billion in Argentina, where the level of poverty is 30 percent? I think it is recklessness," Aguad said, as quoted by La Nacion newspaper.

The Ocean Infinity said the submarine had been discovered in a ravine in 920 meters (3,018 feet) of water, about 600 kilometers (373 miles) east of the port city of Comodoro Rivadavia in the Atlantic Ocean.