There are few scarier ways to die than being trapped on asinking submarine , but 52 extremity of the French dark blue suffered that exact fate when their vas , La Minerve , suddenly sank on January 17 , 1968 . More than five decades after the cataclysm , the sub has finally been located near the port wine of Toulon on the south sea-coast of France .

agree toThe Guardian , La Minerve disappear at 7.55 am on that calamitous day , taking just four minutes to fall to the ocean floor . A number of search operation have since been launched , yet none had find any trace of the stricken vessel , leaving the mob of those on board with nothing but unreciprocated questions about how the tragedy occur .

However , France ’s Minister of the Armed Forces , Florence Parly , latterly commission a unexampled search that   took a new approach to the task . The team analyzed and modeled currents and tide in the western Mediterranean , while also revisit primal information from the clip of the disappearing , such as seismal reports , to perfect in on the lost sub .

A elderly French naval ship’s officer – who has chosen to stay anon. – toldAgence France - Pressethat the wreckage of La Minerve was then found some 45 kilometer ( 28 stat mi ) off the coast of Toulon at a profundity of 2,370 meters ( 7,800 feet ) . A private vas called the Seabed Constructor , which is owned by American house Ocean Infinity , was used to settle the submarine .

After arriving in the vicinity of the wreck , the Seabed Constructor deployed its underwater dawdler to catch a coup d’oeil of La Minerve . lie down on the sea floor , thesubmarinehad transgress up into three separate pieces , with some of the letters of its name clearly seeable on one of these section .

Now that the vessel has been found , work can begin on analyzing the remains in rescript to learn how it might have sunk . Current theories regarding the lawsuit of the accident range from technical issues such as a faulty rudder to an detonate missile or torpedo and even a hit with another vessel .

choose to Twitter , Parly celebrated the find by saying : “ We have just found La Minerve . It ’s a succeeder , a ministration and a technical effort . I ’m thinking of the families who have been waiting for this moment for so long . ”