The crew of the Argentine submarine that went missing 12 days ago reported that water had leaked into the snorkel and caused one of the vessel’s batteries to short circuit, according to new reports.

The commander of the ARA San Juan — which vanished Nov. 15 in the Atlantic Ocean with 14 crew members aboard — sent a message detailing the chain of events that may have led to an explosion.

“Entry of seawater through the ventilation system into battery tank No. 3 caused a short circuit and the beginnings of a fire in the battery room,” the captain said in a message obtained by the A24 TV channel.

“Bow batteries out of service. At the moment in immersion propelling with split circuit. No updates on personnel, will keep informed,” Britain’s Telegraph reported, citing the document obtained by A24.

The communication appears to contradict some of the information provided by Argentina’s navy. It was sent at 8:52 a.m. Nov. 15, while officials have said the sub’s last message was received at 7:30 a.m.

Navy spokesman Enrique Balbi told reporters Monday that the captain said water had entered through the snorkel when the sub was charging batteries.

The water went through the ventilation system to a battery connection tray in the prow and “caused a short circuit and the beginning of a fire, or smoke without flame,” he said.

Balbi said the captain later communicated by satellite phone that the problem had been contained.

“They had to electrically isolate the battery and continue sailing underwater to Mar del Plata using another battery circuit,” Balbi said, referring to the coastal city where the San Juan was based.

The search for the ARA San Juan extends for a 22-mile radius from an area about 250 miles off the coast of Argentina — around the location of an explosion that may have sent the vessel to the bottom of the ocean.

Experts have said the crew had only enough oxygen to last up to 10 days if the sub remained intact but submerged.

Eight days after the sub vanished, the Vienna-based Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty Organization said it had detected a noise a few hours after the vessel’s last contact.

The body, which operates a network of listening posts to monitor nuclear explosions, said there had been a “hydro-acoustic anomaly” about 30 nautical miles north of the sub’s last known position, the BBC reported.

The Argentine navy said it could have been the sound of the submarine imploding.

Some family members have denounced the Navy’s response to the disappearance and the age and condition of the diesel-electric TR-1700 class sub, which was commissioned in 1985.

President Mauricio Macri has promised an investigation while more than a dozen countries are still helping search for the sub.

With Post Wires