Captain and commander of the submarines in the Spanish Navy, Alejandro Cuerda Lorenzo, told radio show ‘Herrera en COPE’ that the Argentine navy considers “that the survival on board could be until 28 November”.
He added: “I am not pessimistic or optimistic, I am enthusiastic.”
The Captain says calculations from the Argentine Navy indicate that the reserves of the submersible would reach the limit on Tuesday, giving them five more days.
His comments come amid claims that the sub could have already run out of oxygen on board.
The lives of the 44 crew members hang in the balance a week its disappearance following a technical fault.
The captain also warned that bad weather conditions on the sea making waves like “a rollercoaster” are hampering the rescue efforts, but there are ships specializing in the rescue of submarines that are searching the area”.
More than 4,000 personnel from 12 countries are now scouring the South Atlantic search zone, braving stormy conditions with high winds and waves up to seven metres high
Britain’s HMS Protector is already helping the efforts, with HMS Clyde expected to reach the search area on Tuesday.
Mr Cuerda Lorenzo added: “Argentine sources have confirmed the commander spoke of an electrical problem with the battery in the last communication with the submarine.”
Peter Layton, a visiting fellow at the Griffith Asia Institute at Griffith University, in Australia corroborated his claims teling CNN if the submarine had sunk, but is still intact, the crew will have about a week to 10 days of oxygen.
But the race against time continues as the vessel has been missing for a week.
Navy spokesman Captain Enrique Balbi admitted that the situation was critical, saying: “We are continuing with this phase of search and rescue. We are in the critical part, it has reached the seventh day in terms of oxygen, supposing that for seven days it has not had the capacity to go the surface and renew the oxygen.”
But asked relatives “not to lose hope” and stressed that they are “doing what is humanly possible” to locate the sailors alive.
“But we are not dismissing the other options, that it could be on the surface.”
He added: “There has been no contact with anything that could be the San Juan submarine.”
Relatives of the crew members have been gathered at a naval base in Mar del Plata, where the search is being coordinated.
Among the missing crew is Argentina’s first female submarine officer Eliana Krawczyk, 35, and Luis Niz, 25, who is due to get married in two weeks’ time. E
lena Alfaro, whose brother Cristian Ibanez is serving as a radar expert on the San Juan, told Reuters: “We came today because we had hope that they had returned. “It is incomprehensible that so much time has passed. We are in pain.”
Around 30 boats and planes and 4,000 people from Argentina, the United States, Britain, Chile and Brazil have joined the search for the submarine, which last transmitted its location about 300 miles out to sea.
A submersible like the ARA San Juan usually takes air once or twice a day in a process similar to a snorkle; the sub sends a tube up the surface to bring in air.
Not being able to carry out this manoeuvre does not mean that the breathable air inside the submersible is exhausted within 24 hours.
“The submarines have candles that chemically generate oxygen and at the same time absorb mechanisms that capture carbon dioxide,” explained Mr Cuerda Lorenzo.
The Spanish Navy has sent three waterproof containers that withstand depths of up to 600 metres to Argentina. They can supply oxygen and food to a submarine stranded on the seabed.
Mr Cuerda Lorenzo said: “We have sent everything we have and here we are left with nothing. We do it because it’s as if it happened to us”