MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bottle with message to dead officer of Falklands' conflict

A Chilean fisherman from Puerto Williams in Tierra del Fuego found a bottle with a message to an Argentine combatant who died when the sinking of the cruiser “General Belgrano” in May 1982 during the South Atlantic conflict over the Falkland Islands.

According to the report in the Argentine press the bottle was found by Javier, a king crab fisherman in Punta Burshem, along the Beagle channel where it floated for over two years having been set to sea from a beach in the Argentine city of Ushuaia. The letter is addressed to petty officer Antonio Javier Ojeda and is signed by his sister Kili. "My dearest brother Javier: I'm writing these lines knowing you'll never get to read them. I imagine you in a beautiful vessel with your friends. But what is most painful is seeing you sail along the channel and not coming back. Your grave is the Argentine Sea, and your name is in many monuments", says one of the excerpts from the message published in the media. The ageing US World War II cruiser with the Argentine Navy, "General Belgrano" was sunk on May 2, 1982 by the British nuclear submarine "Conqueror" with the loss of 323 lives including petty officer Ojeda. It was the single largest loss of the 74 day conflict, which ended with the surrender of the Argentine forces to the UK Task Force in June 1982. "You are a dead hero but I would prefer you with us a simple man…I forgot to tell you so many things. I think you never knew you were my idol, that as a young girl I was marvelled by your explanations about the Universe, and as a grownup man you chose the nicest woman to be my sister in law. She has kept the family together and I will always love her very much", says another excerpt. "They say the war ended in 1982, not for us, because you are missing…Tomorrow I will let flowers on the sea and pray for you. I love you very, very much. Kili", concludes the short letter. During the 1982 South Atlantic conflict Argentina lost 650 combatants and the United Kingdom 255. Argentina continues to claim territorial sovereignty over the Falkland Islands and other South Atlantic insular territories held by the UK.