Sonar photographs believed to be that of a long- missing submarine are nothing more than shadows of large rocks, Israel’s navy commander said this week.
Last week, the navy carried out searches off the coast of the Sinai Peninsula, the area where the photos were taken, after relatives of the submarine’s crew asked the navy to verify a claim made by a private company that it had found the sub.
The Dakar submarine disappeared 18 years ago with 69 crew members on board as it was traveling from Great Britain to Israel.
The navy has since carried out periodic, but fruitless, searches for the Dakar.
Earlier this month, a private company, Oceania, disclosed sonar photos of what it claimed was the sub.
The company, as well as the Israeli navy, were first pointed to a site off the coast of the Egyptian city of Port Said by a Haifa fisherman, who said that his net got caught on a metal object while fishing in the area eight years ago.
Officials at Oceania would neither confirm nor reject the navy’s conclusions about the photographs.
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