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Sub with 44 in crew was last seen Wednesday; US Navy will assist search

(CNN) An Argentine navy submarine with 44 crew members has been missing for three days after the navy lost contact with it off the country's Atlantic coast, the military service says.

The ARA San Juan submarine was last spotted Wednesday in the San Jorge Gulf, a few hundred kilometers off the coast of southern Argentina's Patagonia region, the navy said.

Crews are searching for the vessel by air and sea, navy spokesman Enrique Balbi told reporters Friday.

The submarine had been traveling from a base in far southern Argentina's Tierra del Fuego archipelago to its home base in Mar del Plata, a city hundreds of miles to the northeast. The sub's last known location in the San Jorge Gulf is nearly midway between the bases.

The vessel had been due to arrive at its destination Sunday.

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