Buenos Aires, September 22 (RHC)--US seabed survey company Ocean Infinity has detected an object of the size of Argentina’s San Juan submarine, which went missing last November, Argentine Defense Minister Oscar Aguad said on Friday.

According to Russian agency TASS, in statements to a Todo Noticias TV channel the minister said that the captain of an Ocean Infinity vessel told him that they have received a signal resembling an object comparable with the submarine in terms of size,” and that "an important signal" was recorded at the depth of 280 meters.

"It is surprising that the object wasn’t discovered before," he said.

The minister did not rule out the possibility that in the coming hours there new developments are announced in this regard because the information obtained by the ship is being verified.

Communication with the San-Jose diesel-electric submarine with 44 crew members on board was lost on 15 November 2017 during passage from the Ushuaia Mar del Plata naval base. On November 30, the Argentine Navy announced an end to its operation to save the crew, but the search for the submarine still continues.

Since September, the searchis being conducted by the private US seabed survey company Ocean Infinity, hired by the Argentine government.