Ex-commander convicted over submarine implosion that killed 44

An Argentine court convicted a senior former naval officer on Wednesday over the 2017 implosion of a submarine in the South Atlantic in which all 44 crew members died.

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 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 Mar del Plata naval base.

Before vanishing, it reported 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 a weekslong search for the vessel, but it was eventually located a year later by a British marine robotics firm at a depth of around 3,000 feet, its hull dented and deformed. At the time, the Argentine navy released an image of the wreckage, showing “the habitable section containing the batteries and all the submarine’s systems and equipment.”

The discovery was announced just two days after families of the missing sailors held a commemoration one year after the sub disappeared.

The disaster, which inspired a 2024 Netflix documentary, traumatized Argentines and led to questions about whether the navy had fulfilled its duty of care toward 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 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” toward achieving accountability for the sailors’ deaths and expressed satisfaction 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.

Victoria Morales, whose 31-year-old son Esteban Garcia died in the implosion, said those responsible have been “left unpunished.”

“Once again they stab us, they trample on his name, they leave us in a bad way, they left us without a member of our family. … How could I be satisfied?” Morales told AFP from the northern province of Tucuman.

Prosecutors argued 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, 310 miles off the coast of Santa Cruz province. Hours after announcing the sub’s discovery, the Argentine government said it was unable to recover the vessel, drawing anger from missing sailors’ relatives.