The wreckage of a French submarine that sank in 1968 with 52 crew members onboard has been found in the Mediterranean, the authorities said, ending a five-decade mystery over a vessel that was once one of the jewels of the French fleet, the New York Times reports.
The search was made possible thanks to “recent technological advances in underwater exploration, including the use of new sonars and research drones,” French Defense Minister Florence Parly said in a statement Monday.
French Defence Minister Florence Parly tweeted the announcement on Monday, describing the discovery as a “relief and technical feat”.
Ms Parly announced the new recovery effort earlier this year, following fresh requests from bereaved families to find their loved ones.
“We have just found the Minerve,” Ms Parly tweeted (in French). “It’s a success, a relief and a technical feat. I think of the families who have been waiting for this moment so long.”
La Minerve was on a military exercise when it disappeared in January 1968. Repeated searches have failed to find the vessel until now.
Three parts of the Minerve were found, spread across 330 yards, said Stanislan Gentien, a spokesman for the Mediterranean’s Maritime Prefecture, in Toulon. The first four letters of the vessel’s name — MINE, written in red — were visible on the main piece of wreckage, leaving little doubt about the submarine’s identity, he said.
#France: More than fifty years after the mysterious disappearance of this submarine of the French Navy, its wreckage has just been found: #Minerve | https://t.co/G6qEXyw7k4 pic.twitter.com/Gw5lZ6pSKq
— jorge marruffo (@GattoRosso333) July 22, 2019
The son of La Minerve’s commander, André Fauve, said it was a moment of “great emotion” for the families of the submariners who perished. “Many people told me they were supporting me during the search because they didn’t want me to feel alone but they didn’t believe it would be found,” Hervé Fauve told Le Monde.
