Fifteen days since an Argentinian submarine vanished, hope is fading for the 44 people on board.
The Navy on Thursday said while it will continue the hunt for the vessel, rescue teams had given up on the search for crew members as too much time had passed for them to be saved.
The sub only had a seven-day oxygen supply when it lost contact off the coast of Argentina more than two weeks ago.
A sudden noise was then detected which the navy says could have been the implosion of the sub.
The crew had been ordered to return to a naval base in the north after reporting water had entered the vessel through its snorkel, causing a battery to short circuit.
Family members have criticised the government for giving up, some saying they were not notified ahead of a televised news conference.
The navy says 28 ships, nine planes and 4,000 people from 18 countries were involved in the search but still no sign of the missing sub.
"More than double the number of days have passed where it would have been possible to rescue the crew," navy spokesman Enrique Balbi told a news conference. "We will continue the search... there will not be people saved."
Some family members criticised the government for giving up, and for its means of communicating.
Luis Tagliapietra, whose son was on the submarine, said some 12 families had found out the rescue mission was abandoned from the televised news conference.
He also told television channel TN the government had been too slow to say the water entering the sub caused it to short circuit, which the navy confirmed on Monday.
The navy had said earlier, on November 23, that international organisations detected a noise that could have been the submarine's implosion the same day contact was lost.
"I want to know what happened and I do not believe in any of the official hypotheses," Tagliapietra said, his voice cracking up." "I have no words for it."
Some families had held out hope for a miracle and were organising prayer groups together.
Balbi said 28 ships, nine planes and 4,000 people from 18 countries were involved in the search covering 557,000 nautical miles - more including radar monitoring.
"Despite the magnitude of our search it has not been possible to find the submarine," he said.