The search and rescue mission for a submersible that vanished while on a tour of the Titanic wreckage, has reached a critical stage. Now fears are being raised for the five passengers on board as their emergency supply of oxygen is believed to have run out.
As we previously reported, the 21-foot deep-sea vessel, operated by OceanGate Expeditions, lost contact about an hour and 45 minutes after submerging on Sunday morning. At the time, they had a 96-hour oxygen supply. Coast Guard Capt. Jamie Frederick said during a press conference on Tuesday afternoon that the vessel had “about 40 hours of breathable air left.” Based on the timeline given by US Coast Guard officials, rescue teams had until 7 am ET on Thursday to reach them before the chances of survival ran out. However, Oceanographer Jules Jaffe told NBC, “If they were imagining that they would run out of oxygen, the smart thing to do would be to reduce your metabolic effort and perhaps lay very still.”
So what’s happening now? The Coast Guard said early this Thursday that the intense search is still underway. Two more remotely operated underwater vehicles are searching the sea floor for the missing Titanic tourist submersible. “The Canadian vessel Horizon Arctic has deployed an ROV that has reached the sea floor and begun its search for the missing sub,” the U.S. Coast Guard wrote on Twitter. “The French vessel L’Atalante has just deployed their ROV.”
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More On The Search Mission
Earlier this week, hopes were high after the US Coast Guard says that mystery sounds and banging noises have been heard from the search area for the Titanic submersible Titan. Crew searching for the vessel detected banging noises every 30 minutes on Tuesday and four hours later on Wednesday.
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Capt. Jamie Frederick, the First Coast Guard District response coordinator, said. in a news conference Wednesday afternoon, “There is an enormous complexity associated with this case, due to the location being so far offshore and the coordination between multiple agencies and nations,” Frederick said. “We don’t know what they are,” Frederick said. “The good news is, we’re searching in the area where the noises were detected.”
Why Is This Mission So Complicated?
Titanic expert Tim Maltin told NBC News Now,
“Titanic’s wreck is two and a half miles down. It’s pitch black down there. It’s freezing cold. The seabed is mud and it’s undulating. You can’t see your hand in front of your face. The only way you can find where you are is by a thing called sonar. Not even radar works,” Matlin, who has authored three books on the Titanic disaster, told Reuters. “It’s really a bit like a moon shot. … So, I do fear for the lives of those explorers who are on board.”
Who Is Missing?
ABC News confirmed the identities of those aboard as: Shahzada Dawood, a Pakistani businessman, and his son Suleman Dawood along with Hamish Harding, a British businessman, pilot, and space tourist; Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a French diver and Titanic expert; and Stockton Rush, who is the CEO and founder of the submersible’s Washington-based operator, OceanGate Expeditions.
Officials said families have been notified and have received all updates. We will continue to keep you updated as this story develops.