Immediate Search
On 26 January the British Admiralty reported the submarine was missing and gave the last known position as 100 miles (160 km) west of Cyprus. An international search and rescue operation began, including units from Israel, Great Britain, the United States, Greece, Turkey, and Lebanon. Although Haifa Navy radio began broadcasting calls to commercial vessels to be on the look out for the Dakar, Israeli officials would not admit the submarine was missing. On 27 January, a radio station in Nicosia, Cyprus, received a distress call on the frequency of Dakar's emergency buoy, apparently from south-east of Cyprus, but no further traces of the submarine were found. On 31 January, all non-Israeli forces abandoned their search at sunset. Israeli forces continued the search for another four days, giving up at sundown on 4 February 1968.
Israel denied that the Dakar sank as the result of hostile action and stated that the Dakar was involved in crash diving exercises on its return voyage and was lost, probably as a result of a mechanical failure. On 25 April 1968, Vice Admiral Abraham Botzer, commander of the Israeli Navy, stated that the Dakar sank on 24 January 1968, two days before being reported missing, due to "technical or human malfunctioning" and ruled out "foul play".
Read more about this topic: INS Dakar
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