Vast Searches For Subs

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31590, 30 January 1968, Page 15

Vast Searches For Subs

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) TOULON (France), January 29. Naval experts suggested today that violent undersea earthquakes could have caused the loss of the French and Israeli submarines missing in the Mediterannean.

The experts said that the disappearance of the Israeli submarine Dakar with a crew of 69 aboard coincided with the violent earth tremor which killed five people in Sicily last Thursday. The French submarine Minerve, with 52 men aboard, failed to return to base from the western Mediterranean on Saturday. Vast air and sea searches resumed at dawn today have failed to find any trace of either vessel. But other officials in Toulon tended to dismiss the earthquake theory. The last known position of the Minerve—at 7 a.m. on Saturday—was 36ft beneath

the surface approximately 25 miles south-east of Toulon. Any violent seismic shock In the area would have caused tidal waves on the southern French coast or been felt by surface vessels, these officials argued. Gales and heavy seas in the eastern Mediterranean yesterday hampered the search for the Israeli vessel by planes and ships from the United States, Britain, Greece and Israel.

Hopes of finding the former British submarine, nearing home at the end of her maiden voyage under the Israeli flag, were fading fast There was still not the slightest indication of the Minerve’s whereabouts or her fate. Oil slicks found on the surface yesterday were too widespread and numerous to give any clue to the 30 naval vessels and dozen helicopters searching for the French vessel. The Minerve, one of France’s most modem submarines, was commissioned in 1964. She was due to reach Toulon alone on Saturday night after an escorting aircraft headed for home because of bad weather. She had been acting as a decoy in submarine search manoeuvres. The Minerve could stay submerged for up to 100 hours, Navy officials said. But it was not known when she last surfaced. She can cruise at a depth of 980 ft but can descend to 1640 feet if necessary. The sea is about 8200 ft deep in the area where she is feared to have gone down. The Minerve is the third French submarine to vanish off Toulon, France’s largest naval base. Submarine 2326 went down in the area in 1946 with a crew of 22, and the Sybille carried 51 men to the bottom in 1952. Neither was recovered.

Meat Imports. British farming leaders remain opposed to the removal of the ban on imports of meat from countries where foot-and-muth disease is endemic. London, Jan. 29.

Tropical Storm.—The tropical storm, “Georgette,” killed 22 people and made thousands homeless in Madagascar. The storm swept over the northeast coast of the island two weeks ago and is now back in the south-west, where several districts of the town of Tulear are under water.— Tananarive, Jan. 29.